Thursday, July 29, 2010

As an intern: be flexible

Being flexible as an intern is really invaluable. You may get a rotation that isn't your cup of tea and have to find unique ways to make it a good experience, or you may have to deal with a client in a way you hadn't thought you would need to.

A surprising experience in flexibility I had came when teaching a label reading class. One of the attendees in the class put up a barrier to participating when given a diet soda can to read the label on. She was unwilling to even look at the can, regardless of it being diet or not, because she didn't drink soda. Being flexible and swapping the can for a different food label for her to read allowed her to participate in the activity, even though it wasn't in the way I had intended. And by being flexible about letting her read a different label, I learned a good lesson: when teaching someone about reading a nutrition label it's important to have multiple examples.

Even if things don't go the way you expect them to, as a dietetic intern, undergrad, practitioner, or just in your daily life, being flexible can help open doors you didn't even know existed.

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