It’s easy to forget the little things in the wake of such great change. Less than two weeks ago I was sitting beneath the Arizona sun (albeit at 7000ft in Flagstaff—home to world class runner, world class hipsters, and the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forests in the world) and today I prepare to journey to Costa Rica after moving more than 1000 miles to Houston, Texas.
For most the country’s name brings about images of tropical landscapes, clear water beaches, hot spring-studded rainforests, and belching volcanoes spewing an indigestion of ash and lava. For me however, with the knowledge that this country will be my home and place of work for the next 10 weeks, the image has become a muddled mix of medical product development, public transport, condominium layouts, and inquiries about the nearest place to buy coffee. Nerves and excitement abound as my thoughts turn to my internship with St. Jude Medical and the thought lingers: “what do I wish this opportunity to be?”
If you’ve ever taken a design class you know of the notorious term, accompanied with Jaws-esk crescendo: scope creep. Faced with uncertainties and unknowns the mind has a habit of taking little things—be it the technical needs of an arterial stent or finding toilet paper in a country where you don’t fluently speak the language—and turning them into 10ft tall prosthetic blood flow organisms constructed entirely out of Bounty and Charmin Ultra paper towels. It is here I have to take a step back and truly consider that I wish the next 10 weeks to be.
I wish to make a positive contribution to my workplace. It doesn’t have to be big but I want to leave able to say “I did that and it helped”. I wish to learn both technical skills for medical product development and manufacture and the skills needed in everyday work places. I wish to learn more about and grow with my team of three other GMI students. And I wish to see Costa Rica as it really is from the view of people who live and work there.
It’s easy to let fear, nerves, excitement and uncertainty grow into something big. It’s easy to think that the only happiness and success there is comes about when accomplishing something big. It’s harder to recognize the benefits of the small stuff but, I think it is in the little thinks where I’ll find the most reward in the next 10 weeks. But who knows? It is a journey after all.
And what fun would that be if the end was already known?