New Day Rising

I realize it's been a while since I wrote my last entry, but I'm happy to say I've been very busy doing things other than worrying about my P and whether it will sink my career. (Instead, I now expect that if that does happen it will be as a result of the current funding climate. That's psychological progress!) I guess it's no surprise that I was most motivated to blog when my grapple with whether to at least partially leave the closet was most intense. Things have been going really well and I have welcomed the chance to focus on other things for a change.



In contrast to the pessimism I felt in past months, things have been looking relatively positive career-wise. Recently, I have spent some time traveling and presenting my lab's latest work to colleagues with encouraging responses, and I am working with my trainees to get our first couple of papers into submission. I also will sit on my first grant review panel, which has been an eye opening experience. Most of my evenings have been spent turning the crank on these endeavors instead of interweaving my medical situation with musical references

With regard to the atmosphere at work, people were apparently shocked at first, but I have been pleasantly surprised with how quickly P has become a non-issue. One modestly weird thing is wondering who knows. I kind of expected (even counted on) the news to spread quickly since TSRU is a hotbed of gossip, but I get the distinct impression it hasn't especially. I suppose this isn't the kind of gossip anybody feel great about spreading when compared to who's sleeping together. Whether or not someone knows, I can't tell you what a relief it has been to let my Freak Flag fly without worrying whether someone will see something. FF is relative though I guess since one of my colleagues joked (I hope) that he didn't really believe that I have anything wrong with me. Now that's a change - proving rather than hiding I have P.