Venture out of your comfort zone!

Venture out of your comfort zone!

ANUPAMA

Hello little Anupama,

I hope you are spending your weekend engaging in your favourite hobbies. It looks like you are beginning to develop an interest in pursuing the pure sciences. If I were in a time machine that could bring me to you, I would take this opportunity to give you some advice, which is to make a few slight tweaks to your life and attitude, which will hopefully make you a better researcher than I am right now.

The first and most important thing that I learnt as a researcher is to never fear anything. And to never doubt oneself.

Young Anupama, you are so afraid to ask a question! You say to yourself, “Shushh…it must be a silly question; what if I am wrong?” And whenever you muster the courage to answer or ask something, and it doesn’t go well, you are teased or dismissed. That has knocked your confidence down more times than you can count, making you feel small around people who seem to know everything. It is like a Skinnerian experiment—you learn to stay quiet to avoid negative responses.

Well, as you grow academically, you will realise that there is nothing silly in asking questions, every question is different and will have an answer. Always ask "Why?", because at the end that's what research is all about."

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I know you are scared of mathematics, but unfortunately, if you want to be in this field, you need to conquer that fear. The one thing I always regret is learning statistics as a tedious task and not as something that is enjoyable. And I’m still struggling with it. But trust me, there is no age to study a new thing or improve your knowledge. I am currently working on my statistics skills. It's tough but once you understand what each kind of analysis or test does to your data, you will be able to interpret your data in really interesting ways.

And once you get a hold of that, whenever someone asks a question, you can confidently answer it and that underconfidence which I spoke about earlier just vanishes. Don’t study anything for the sake of getting good marks. Try to understand why you are learning anything, and you will begin to see the beauty in every boring subject.

Illustration by Ipshita

Second, be flexible in life, try pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

Be open to new experiences, since it can be a lot of fun! I know that you are planning on joining a basic science degree course because of your interest in animals. I also know that plants are never in the picture given how you don't even step outside your home to check on the plants around you! But trust me, my field experiences and research on plants tells me that the moment you begin to observe their behaviour, you will realise that plants are as fascinating as animals.

I always imagined myself working in a laboratory setup; But here I am doing a lot of fieldwork, travelling to faraway places chasing plant fragrances! And that is because I was open to ideas and decided to venture out of my cocoon. It's tough. For me, my first field trip was very hard. More than the physical exertion, my mental health was disturbed because I wasn’t in my comfort zone. But slowly, I figured this out and even began “enjoying” my work. Now, I am even considering going for treks in the forest after my PhD!

Another thing. I know that you have been advised to finish tasks on time. It is great if you can do this, but it's also fine if you take a few days extra to finish the work. Don’t put so much burden on yourself that you forget to enjoy your work and life.

Third, you rarely have doors opening for you and when you get one, try not to let it go, if it feels right.

That was how I went from a state university in my hometown to a national-level institute in Hyderabad, the first stepping stone in my life. Probably if I had not applied for the project JRF position in CCMB, I would have never reached my current PhD position either.

Fourth, never compare yourself with anyone else, but with yourself only.

You have grown both personally as well as academically from your pre-school till your 12th standard. Everyone has their own pace at which they can do things or learn. Some things take time, and that’s okay. Just keep believing in yourself and trust the process. You’ll get there.

Finally, remember that research is just one chapter of your life.

Don’t forget to live the rest of it! Spend time with your family, hang out with friends, play, dive into your hobbies. Enjoy your weekends—they’re just as important as your weekdays. Research is for sure going to be a roller coaster ride. But with an optimistic mind, I am sure you will crack that too.

All the best and enjoy the journey,

With love,
The older (and maybe slightly wiser) Anupama

About Anupama

Anupama is a final-year PhD student at the Tropical Ecology and Evolution lab at IISER Bhopal, where she dives into the fascinating world of floral fragrances of wild tropical gingers. During free hours, you’ll likely find her singing, painting, or capturing the beauty of the world through her camera.