Image credits: Mukuko Studio

What comes to mind when you think of happiness? Even as I’m Googling pictures of “happiness” to include in this article, I’m flooded with these big, bright, and bold phenomena—champagne popping, work promotions, college graduations, among others. Major life milestones. Supernovas.

And that’s how I used to feel a lot of the time. Waiting for supernovas to celebrate. But we’ve all been there—we stare at the sun too long, our eyes adjust, and ordinary life becomes a mere dim backdrop.

By waiting for supernovas, we miss the serendipity and thrill of ordinary details. We miss the photons.

Quiet hikes in Autumn when every breath leaves a small wisp of cool fog. Studying besides a friend at a cozy café, listening to the rhythmic tapping of ourkeyboards. Striking up a conversation with a stranger. Baking something new. Sipping warm tea. Reading. Jogging. Meditating. Laughing. Living.

Don’t let the supernovas drown out the light of a single photon.

General Words of Wisdom

1. Spend more time with cats (even if you’re allergic, like me).

2. Travel whenever you can. Your grandchildren will appreciate it.

Connection

3. Find your roots. In a world bustling with noise, this keeps you in touch.

4. Balance triumphs ambition. To go sustainably is to go far.

5. Questions on meaning are best answered through lived experience.

6. Find extraordinary moments in your physical and natural environment.

7. Listen more than you speak. The community has so much to teach.

School

8. Education is necessary, but not sufficient. Beyond these four walls, lies true impact.

9. The value of a good professor or mentor is unparalleled.

10. Research shouldn’t be done in a vacuum. Never forget who it affects.

11. Never be told to “stay in your lane” (in conversation w. Vivek H. Murthy)

12. Sometimes, our journey isn’t linear. And that’s okay.

Career

13. The grass is always greener on the other side. Focus on your own path.

14. Consistency is key. Overnight fixes are chimeric.

15. Some of my best career decisions came from shower thoughts.

16. Science journalism is equally important to research. 2023 goal?

17. Clarity of mind is a sine qua non to profound work.

Health

18. Biking is good for the Earth and for the mind.

19. Never underestimate the value of a healthy, balanced diet.

20. Never take physical health for granted.

21. The endurance community is the best community.

22. Find people who inspire you, and keep them around.

The days are long, but the months are short.

Only two months ago, I got my driver’s license. Three days later, I’m stuck making a 9-hour drive along the 401, suitcases and boxes meticulously balanced to leave a small opening through which I can barely see the back window. A single fast turn could send it tumbling down, like blocks in Jenga.

Starting our drive from Ottawa, Canada, the hours passed by effortlessly. Enthralled with “Welcome to Connecticut” signs darting by me and absent-minded conversations about how to convert the speed limit from kilometers into miles per hour, we almost miss our exit. Luckily, we pivoted in the knick of time. New Haven, we made it (in one piece, barely).

The city is quaint, but filled with personality. To the busy eye, it doesn’t offer much, but in moments of equanimity and lucidity, what were once ordinary details reveal themselves to be complex tapestries. The small local bike shops are not merely mechanical, they are social hubs where fellow college students and I will often congregate to grab a cup of coffee and kick our feet up on the couches after class. The monolithic cube at the corner of State Street and I-91 turns out to be a vibrant CrossFit community that has allowed me to push beyond physical and mental barriers, and reignited my passion for nutrition and cardio. The cold classrooms and auditoriums were once occupied by personal healthcare heroes of mine, such as Paul Kalanithi, who I’m sure also kept forgetting a warm sweater. The lack of street name signs means that we directionally orient ourselves by the content of these streets — the shared dinners, movie nights, and memories with friends — rather than their titles.

The reason I chose Yale was the world-class education. But little did I know the degree to which my education from countless lines of R code, the odds ratios calculated, and the Socratic appraisals of health policies — albeit, intellectually-stimulating — would pale in comparison to the far more important lessons that I would learn from my peers, colleagues, mentors, and community members, beyond the four walls of a classroom.

My friends teach me kindness, balance, and commitment. My peers teach me humility, impact, and the value of raising our voices against social disparities and barriers to health in our communities. My gym teaches me the value of using health and fitness to push ourselves past our comfort zones and give back to our community, notably, inspiring me to do a 100K cycling ride to fundraise for patients at Smilow Cancer Hospital.

For me, therein lies the promise of Yale: the value of a close-knit, global, and empowering community. Sometimes, drowning in assignments and studying for midterms, it’s easy for me to forget this. But I will continue to search for these quintessential lessons about juggling both school and life every chance I get.