Another brilliant move in my Design Thinking class, our instructors asked that we send out kudos to our classmates. My kudos went to all of the people that I interacted with in group projects except for one. This last person has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and works with patients through clinical psychology. The only interaction I have with this psychologist is through our homework assignments. She often would post very profound thoughts and ideas and I would comment on them. Occasionally, she would comment on my assignments as well. Aside from that, we hear from each other when we speak up in class, but nothing else out of the ordinary.
My kudos to her was that she inspires me to continue my pursuit to add psychology to my skill set, which I genuinely meant. I should also mention that this psychologist had the most kudos from people in the class. It is clear that she is very smart and provides a fantastic contribution to the class.
I was kind of surprised that I received kudos from her. Not only that, but it was very impactful to me. Not just because her words were nice, but because she is a total stranger that was able to deeply analyze me just based on my homework assignments and very little interactions with me as a person. It causes me to think about my perception of people on social media. It’s a similar situation because it shows who or what I come across as to total strangers. Granted, this exercise was built to force saying kind words, but still, it was interesting to think about. This might be taking it a bit far in analyzing, but she also wrote more to me than anyone else in her post, including people that she has actually worked with. I can’t help but feel like I might look back at this moment and see that the universe was talking to me through a total stranger.
Her words: I hope you consider teaching at some point in your career journey (if you don’t already – I’m not sure what you do). You have the best characteristics of a truly great teacher. You downplay your own brilliance and shine the light on others while they find their answers. Your ego doesn’t need to display your knowledge, but you seem to prefer to perpetuate your own learning process through engagement with both the material and with others, making for a deeper process and exploration for all.
I have tried a few times to go back through what I have posted that gave someone this perception of me. I am grateful for this experience though. I am not sure how often we are given this snapshot of how strangers view us, but it gives me certain affirmations and feels like it will impact my journey forward from here in a positive way.
