how do you get over lab nerves + bad first days experience ðŸ˜
I was fortunate enough to land a position as a research assistant in a university lab (cell culture bio but my experience so far has been mixed. I’m being mentored by a postdoc and I’ve been observing her and occasionally helping out with procedures and calculations. I’ve doing great with the journal meetings, but I have really bad social anxiety and I get nervous every time I’m asked to do a procedure with them watching which leads to me making dumb mistakes I normally wouldn’t make. Things like forgetting to wear gloves or blanking when my mentor asks me a question I definitely know the answer to bc I’m overthinking. Today was the worst, I did good occasionally but I messed up a lot and I feel like my mentor was lowkey annoyed with me ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
It doesn’t help that I’m working at a T10 so I constantly feel like everyone around me is so brilliant and accomplished and I’m making myself look so bad. Just wanted to see if anyone else has had similar experiences and how I can get over it bc I really want to make the most out of this experience