I was never a confident child growing up. I grew up in a loving, educated and fairly financially-comfortable family. I say fairly because my family was not rich compared to some of my friends' and classmates', but we could afford to buy a car (very rare at that time), live independently from my grandparents, own a computer and let me attend extracurricular classes after school. My grades were good - I was always one of the top 10-15 students in my class and top 400 in my school year (there were 60 students in each class and 1500 students in my school year), but my parents rarely praised me for it. I don't know if it was because they thought I could do better, they didn't worry too much about my grades or they cared more about other aspects of my childhood development, but the lack of compliment for my achievement, to some extent, led to my self-doubt and lack of confidence.
When I was in the last two years of elementary school, there were several special educational programs that kids could apply to before going to middle school. I learned about them from teachers at school but didn't say a word to my parents. One day, my dad came home and asked me why I didn't tell him about the programs as he had heard about them from other parents. I said that I didn't think I would be good enough to be admitted to the programs anyway because I assumed only kids with the best grades could go. "You'll never know what you can achieve until you try. The worst thing that could happen to you was being told no," dad said. Life went on. Similar opportunities never turned up again, and I had put dad's lesson behind my mind.
I'm interested in a regulatory medical writing career, so I'm currently looking for any scientific writing/reviewing opportunities. A postdoc in the lab introduced a website called "The Node" to me a few weeks ago. The Node is hosted by The Company of Biologists and the journal Development, and it is a place where people can write science/research related articles and share with a global community of developmental and stem cell biologists. I recently just read an interesting paper about trunk neural crest cell proliferation and migration, so I decided to write a Research Highlight article and posted it on The Node. Two days later, someone from The Node reached out to me and asked whether I would be interested in joining their sister website preLights, where a selected group of researchers write research highlights on preprints (research articles that have not been peer reviewed yet). There is normally an application process to join preLights, but they read my Research Highlight article on The Node and thought that I would be a good fit. I felt surprised, excited and honored. I did not expect an article that I wrote for fun and practice would lead to something even bigger and greater. I couldn't help but think what would happen if I hesitated and didn't write the Research Highlight article in the first place. The answer was clear - I wouldn't have got this other opportunity.
That was not the only exciting news that I got last week. Two weeks ago, I got an AMWA Journal monthly update email. At the bottom of the email, a narrow section had only several lines of texts stating that the AMWA Journal was looking for a volunteer for their Science Series Section Editor role. I immediately applied and also sent an email to the Journal Editor to inquire more information about the role. I don't have any journal section editing experience but I thought that I should still give it a try because there would be nothing better than volunteering as an editor/reviewer/writer for AMWA. A week passed and I heard nothing. Just when I was about to forget about all of this, I got an email back from the Journal Editor sharing the news that they decided to move forward with candidates with scientific journal section editor experience, but they wanted to give me the opportunity to gain experience with the journal possibly through a Peer Reviewer role, which could lead to a Section Editor role in the future. My chest was once again filled with all the emotions - excitement, happiness, relief - then dad's voice suddently came into my mind. "You'll never know what you can achieve until you try." I understand now. I only wish I had understood it sooner.
I may not be the brightest, the most qualified or the most experienced, but I have now learned to put myself out there and reach higher. If I have to hear rejections, let them be from someone else rather than myself. Maybe, just maybe, rejections can also be accompanied by opportunities just like this time.
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