The time I met a fellow socially anxious scientist (Part 2)

I almost chickened out, but I ended up getting coffee (i.e., cherry coke) with the socially anxious PhD whom I met recently at a talk. I agonized over the meeting all morning and ended up taking propranolol to make my heart stop racing, but I made myself go. It was so worth it!

The person I met up with graduated last semester with her PhD in one of the sciences, and she is wrapping up her work this semester and starting a post-doc in January, just like me! She was super nice, and we talked about all of the crazy things that you have to face when you are socially anxious in academia. I was worried she would be uncomfortable talking about social anxiety and speaking anxiety, but she was really open. She was just as eager to meet someone else in science, who was as socially anxious as I was!

The coffee date was just so perfect. We talked about how we handle speaking anxiety, hiding at conferences, having to leave the building to make phone calls, mentoring undergrads, and everything else. It felt like, finally, someone else totally understood everything.

In other news, I have been writing my dissertation non-stop the last few weeks, and it is not very fun! See the photo of my kitchen area…

The author of this story is a postdoctoral associate in the biomedical sciences where she engages in clinical research using magnetic resonance imaging. She enjoys biking, reading, and warm weather. This story was published on September 20, 2018, on the author’s blog, Science and Social Anxiety (available here), and has been republished here with her permission.