Working for Change

            Most of this week consisted of normal, day-to-day activities, like going to classes and doing ridiculous amounts of work, and cooking food. As a result, I’m going to just give a quick update about my UROP, and then I’m going to have a more serious post.

            So my UROP. As I said last time, I’m working in the Samson Lab again this semester, but on a different project from what I was doing over the summer. On Thursday of this week, I was able to actually get back in the lab and do things, which was awesome (I haven’t been in lab for the first two weeks of school because of scheduling conflicts, both on my part and my grad student’s part). I mixed some fluorescent plasmids (circular DNA that codes for proteins that will fluoresce under certain conditions) in varying combinations, and then transfected those plasmids into mammalian cells. On Friday, we went over to the Koch Institute to use their FACS (Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting) machine. The idea behind this machine, in very simple terms, is that you’ve created fluorescent cells of different colors, and the machine is able to sort those cells based on what color they fluoresce at. It’s a really cool process, and I’m excited that I’ll be working with it more over the course of this semester.

            Okay, so now the more serious part. I feel like part of growing up is realizing who you are and becoming the person you want to be. I, for one, am really good at the first one, and not so great at the second one. One day last year, after hearing a particularly inspiring lecture about advances in medical technology and the fact that scientists had developed a method of basically building a human heart, I came home and told my friends, “Guys- we’re going to change the world”. I meant it in the sense that our generation is going to develop most of the advances in science and technology that we’ll see in the future, but I think it’s true in the individual sense as well. There are so many things that we’re going to see in the future simply because someone that we know (to varying degrees) created it.

            Changing the world, or even changing things on a smaller scale, requires a substantial amount of commitment though. And sometimes, it’s a lot easier to know what you want to change than to actually find the commitment to change it. I’m specifically thinking about myself and being out of shape in this case. I was on a run yesterday, and contemplating the fact that nine months ago, the 3 miles that I ran would have been a snap, especially given how slow I was going. It’s so easy to prioritize everything else I have going on, that I often make excuses and forget about exercising regularly or eating as healthily as I could. While I’m certainly not making a diet of Cheetos and soda, I still often choose the easier option of a quesadilla or grilled cheese sandwich rather than taking the time to make something more balanced.

            Five-and-a-half years of rowing did a couple of things for me. First, it gave me pretty much a constant endorphin high, so not rowing last semester meant that I needed to adjust to having a slightly altered brain chemistry. For those of you not familiar with either neuroscience or me after a particularly hard workout, endorphins have the effect of producing feelings of well-being and happiness. As a result, the lack of endorphins meant that I was a little bit grumpy all the time, since my brain wasn’t constantly producing chemicals that made me happy. I’ve equilibrated now, but I still miss having the endorphin high every once in a while. As a result, I’ve realized that I’m a much easier person to live with when I exercise regularly, so I’m going to try to be better about making it a priority. Some of my friends have a goal to go to the gym every weekend, and I think I’m going to join them in that goal. I’ll probably run outside until it’s too cold to do so, but I’m going to try to get some amount of exercise in each week.

            The second thing that rowing for five-and-a-half years did for me was allow me to eat whatever I wanted, without worrying about the consequences. I know that someone reading this right now is probably shaking their head and thinking that I look fine, and to be honest, I look pretty much the same as I have since high school, largely because my body has just replaced any muscle that once was with softer tissues. But it’s less about how I look and more about how I feel that I look. I realize that this sounds like a totally subjective measure, and it is. But it’s a subjective measure that’s important to me. While I haven’t really done anything previously about it, I’m going to make an actual effort this time. In addition to my exercising regularly goal, I’m going to give up sweets, with the exception of sorbet (because I can pretend that that’s not *so* bad for me) and holidays. Last time I gave up sweets, I tried to do it cold turkey, which didn’t lead to success. I think this time I’ve given myself enough leeway that I’ll have a more significant shot at actually being successful.

            This post was kind of a weird one, I realize. But part of the college experience is growing up, and I think for me that means that I have to get serious about working for the things I want to change. I’m still in school, so I’ve got a little bit of time before I can go out and change the world. I’ve still got a lot to learn, after all. But one thing that’s within my power to change right now is myself, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t try to do what I could in that respect. I’ll get around to changing the world soon enough- right now I’m just going to become the best person I can be.