Quarter of a century

I am now a quarter of a century old! I celebrated my birthday with Mr. Jay and my parents, with a fairly low key day out. Mr. Jay spoiled me rotten- he is wonderful! He cooked me breakfast and dinner and bought me an iPhone. He is possibly regretting that slightly as I have been neglecting him for it! I may be a little bit too in love with my iPhone. At least I have not given it a name. Yet.

I don’t feel that there is anything particularly significant about reaching 25. I know there are plenty of people who achieved much more than I have by this age. I have a friend who is a year younger than me and has already published first author papers in the highest impact factor journals, and is starting a post doc at a very prestigious uni! I will not even be starting my PhD until October! However, I have absolutely no regrets about the way I have spent the last few years. I took two years out to travel the world, and I had would not swap those years for anything. I also spent the last two years working as an RA instead of starting a PhD straight after my travels. I do not feel any pressure to race up the ladder in my career, and I think in the long term taking it slowly is the right thing for me. For example, if I did not have my RA experience, I am pretty sure I would not have got onto such a highly regarded PhD program as I did. I hope I will still feel that my decisions were the right ones as time passes.