Who are you? I am not asking about the public persona you play at work. Who are you when you’re alone?
Many of us assume different identities on the weekend. We take off our professional hats, put on sweatpants, and relax. It’s how we maintain balance and facilitate order in our lives.
Sometimes, we must blend our public and private lives.
My identities merged over the last two weeks. I began another semester at the university and traveled to present at an academic conference in Basel, Switzerland. I am writing this on the 8-hour return flight from Paris to St. Marten.
After a long layover, my wife sleeps in a window seat beside me. Before we left Antigua, new faces filled the university’s halls and classroom seats to learn medicine. School resumed.
I collaborated with colleagues in the Education Enhancement Department (EED) to introduce students to learning strategies applicable to the pre-clinical sciences curriculum. I co-taught the first-semester transition course.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, active reading strategies, resilience, grit, and self-care practices are among the topics I led. As an advocate for social justice, a writer, and an exercise enthusiast, these subjects correspond with my professional and personal identities.
Remember, passion is the thing you love to do. Purpose is how you use passion to improve the lives of others.
Passion and purpose fueled the energetic and creative presentations for the university's newest cohort of medical students. “Give this guy a raise” was one of the comments I read on an evaluation. With three children in private school, I hope someone in the administration reviewed the student’s comment.
The positive feedback from students after lectures encouraged me as I prepared to attend the International Association for Health Professions Education (AMEE) conference. My unorthodox "Fringe” presentation included poetry, music, and elements of Capoeira.
It was a collaborative project with friends and colleagues, Drs. Trevor Ngorosha, Sherida Philip, and Loveness Ngorosha from the EED.
Before leaving for Switzerland, I was in my office responding to an email. The window was open, and a warm breeze entered the room. Wind spread the fragrance of a cinnamon-scented candle I had lit and placed near the windowsill.
My office phone rang. I answered, and an administrative assistant asked if I could speak with visitors. “Yes, please just give me a brief moment,” I replied. I pressed send on the email message and left to explain the department’s programs and services to the prospective students.
As I approached the administrative assistant’s desk, the Office of Student Affairs employee introduced me as Dr. Lindsay to the couple.
The lady smiled and shook my hand.
When the gentleman raised his gaze from a brochure, we shook hands, and he said, “I know you. I watch a lot of CNBC. I saw the story about you and your family. You’re one of the reasons why I came here. I thought you would be walking around here like a celebrity.”
An awkward smile formed on my face, as it often does when students recognize me from the CNBC article or video. I doubt the couple recognized the change in my disposition; they didn’t know me.
After engaging in small talk and explaining the department’s programs and services, the couple continued their tour to another department. When I closed my office door, I thought about the man’s comment, “I know you.”
I wanted to reply, “You don’t know me, son!” like ultramarathoner and author David Goggins. It’s impossible to know someone after a three-minute highlight reel. Instead, I responded with a smile and answered their questions about the department and my family’s experiences in Antigua.
The following day, my wife and I dropped the children off at their friends’ homes and the pets for boarding. We traveled from Antigua to Switzerland after stops in St. Marten and France.
A lot happened over the week. I connected with people from South Africa, China, Denmark, Germany, Brazil, the United States, and Jamaica. Every day, I exercised, wrote, attended the conference, and enjoyed time with my wife.
I started writing poetry at 17. I took my first Capoeira class in 2006. I moved with my family to Mexico and created the YouTube channel La Vida Lindsay in 2016. In 2018, the American University of Antigua College of Medicine hired me to help students learn the curriculum.
Through my conference presentation, I embodied my personal and professional identities. I used poetry, Capoeira, video, and music to illustrate their potential to help teach learning strategies to medical students. The concept was abstract, but I hope the delivery and responses to questions afterward clarified any confusion.
You be the judge; watch my Fringe presentation below these last two sentences. Subscribe to this blog for several gifts and to recieve the next post in your inbox. Over the next few weeks, I will share more observations from the conference alongside pictures and videos.
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