Sometimes before you can start a conversation with someone you have to knock before entering, and man is one of the most nerve-wracking things to do.
Nicole’s words of reflexivity resonated with me, acknowledging that when you start your research you can either be accepted into a certain space or with a door slammed in the face. I think the fear of rejection for me is something I need to accept and not let me miss out on other doors to knock on with the fear of not being let in.
Doors can be daunting and it’s a mixture of wondering what’s on the other side and being open to an adventure. Having that inquisitiveness to go outside the limits of your research’s comfort zone but also creating a fence to know what you don’t want to discover, is a blurry line. Learning to have openness to experience. How you may open one door thinking, ‘yep that’s the one’, not realising that’ll be your first stop of many. That you might end up going down the hallway to a rave about something else entirely and finding your groove.
Having the flexibility to go beyond the restrictions you’ve placed on your research can be beneficial, remembering that looking through the peephole in a door doesn’t give the entire story behind a door and discovering what’s behind it, is what a door does best.
