Being Kind to Your Future Self

One of my unofficial mottos in life is to try to always be kind to my future self. This can be expressed in so many ways. Simple things, like washing the dishes promptly after eating, when the food residue is all still easily rinsed away, rather than leaving them to pile up and become a daunting and difficult task, or remembering to always put things where they belong, so that you can find them quickly and easily when needed. The latter one was an oft repeated bit of advice by my undergraduate field geology teacher, who insisted that we *always* put our compasses and rock hammers back into their holsters if we needed our hands free, even if it was only going to be “for a second”, because distractions happen, and it is easy to put that all important tool down on a convenient rock, get interrupted and called away, and not notice it is gone till you reach for the holster hours or miles away from where you left the hammer or compass.

Another way we can be kind to our future self is to distribute our work evenly, and not procrastinate until facing a hard deadline with too much work still needing to be done. This one can take years of practice to get right. When first starting out in graduate school it can be very tempting to translate the freedom of setting one’s own schedule into “I can take any time off that I want to take”, but students who take this approach often regret it later in their project, as their scholarships are running out, and the work isn’t yet done. I know that I tried to make the effort early in my project to work steadily, so that I’d have the same level of work-load throughout, but I’m not certain I managed as well as I might have, if I had only known more then about what I would need to have done by now. The end is in sight, but the effort being put forth does, at times, seem to have been exponential in its increase. Fortunately, even when one wasn’t perfect in distributing the work-level across the entire project, still projects are finite in duration, and the effort I’m putting in now will make life easier for my future self.

The Beauty Secrets of a Geologist

I recently encountered one of those surveys which wend their way around the internet and seem to serve little purpose, save offering us diversion from whatever it is that we are meant to be doing, and, betimes, giving us some insight into the manner in which we are similar to or different from those of our friends who have also answered the questions. This particular survey was on the topic of “fashion”. I, like many other geologists, am not terribly “fashion conscious”, preferring “comfort” over style, and I made the decision as a very young person that, unless I happened to be on stage for some reason, to never wear makeup. Therefore I found it appalling to read the answers some of my friends gave to the question inquiring as to their “beauty routine”. What is it that causes some people to equate “beauty” with slathering their faces with expensive goos? I nearly avoided the entire survey as a result of my reaction.

However, I then thought about it a bit more asking myself, do I, a sensible geologist with a “natural” look, have a “beauty routine”? It turns out that I do, so I thought I would share my secrets with you, so you can all be as beautiful as I.

* Maintain a positive attitude/outlook on life

* Smile often

* Refrain from gossip

* Stay out of the direct sunlight as a general rule (wear hats in the field!)

* Get plenty of exercise; do more than 20 minutes of yoga every day.

* Eat a healthy diet in moderate quantities; eat fresh vegetables, fruit and a variety of grains, nuts & seeds

*Whenever possible, eat only home-made items; avoid processed and commercially manufactured "foods".

* Shower regularly.

* Keep hair long, clean and tangle-free (braids are useful here!)

Given the level of shock one of my fellow PhD students expressed when she discovered my age the other day (I’m nearly twice her age); I think my routine is working.