Featured Student: What are YOU passionate about?

By Janet Zimmerman

I love Janel Ovrut’s recent Guest Post: Clinical Nutrition is Not For Everyone.  I have know for some time that I wanted to be a dietitian, and I have know for almost equally as long that I did not want to work as a clinical dietitian. Janel shares her experience of making her own path in dietetics, a path that she is very passionate about.  Here is a wonderful exert:

…don’t let anyone convince you that you have to work in a particular setting in order to get experience. Use your internship to gain experience, shadow dietitians who are doing what you want to do, and make it a point to network, network, network! So many job contacts I’ve made have been through people I’ve met along the way through social media, my state dietetic association, and even the random person I met at a wedding or in a grocery store. All of these experiences will help bring you down the path you want to take.

Throughout the post she shares wisdom to succeed at any path within the dietetics profession:

·      Make the most of our experiences with dietitians- We can learn so much from dietitians by shadowing them, volunteering for them, being mentored by them, communicating with them on social media (twitter, facebook, or blogs), and talking to them at dietetic association meetings.

·      Network

·      Stay true to your passion.  This means first we need to know what we are passionate about.  Sports nutrition, weight management, eating disorder treatment, nutrition communications, MNT, community nutrition, etc.  Secondly, we need to cultivate the things we are passionate about and, again, network and get to know the people who are passionate and skilled in these areas.

The last one really hits home with me.  Many times I am thinking about the next thing that I need to be doing concerning school and work, and ironically, I lose sight of the big picture and what I am working toward.

I’ll never forget when I was making my plans for this summer and a dietitian mentor looked at me and said, “Janet, what do you want to do this summer?”  Such an easy question, yet I realized I was making many of my decisions based on what I thought I should do instead of what I am passionate about.   I am so thankful to that mentor for opening my eyes a little. You see I am passionate about eating disorder recovery and working as a dietitian who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders.  Because I know my passion, I was able to throw out many of the summer options I had and look for something that suited my passion for helping people with eating disorders.  And, I am excited to say that I have an internship with Binge Eating Disorder Association this summer.  I cannot wait for the learning, shadowing, networking, and fun to begin. 

So next time you make a dietetic decision, ask yourself: is it something you are passionate about or is it something you feel obligated or pushed to do?