Six years after
I’m taking a break from the weeding (got the CDs weeded; hope to finish with books, clothes and shoes by the end of the day, leaving only papers) because of a couple of people who emailed me about the burnout story out of the blue.
That’s nothing unusual, of course; I average one such email a month, though they do tend to arrive in clumps of two to five for some reason. What struck me about these, though, was the worried query figuring prominently in both, “What are you doing now? Are you okay?”
I think the burnout story is incomplete as it stands. My desired audience, people in grad school and hating it as well as people who have left it, genuinely needs to know the epilogue.
Don’t worry; I’m not going to sugarcoat it for them. What earthly use would that be? I’m no Horatio Alger, and I’ve got nothing invested in pretending otherwise—nor do I think that a soft-focus “inspirational” tale is what these people need. I’ve had my ups and my downs—and several of the ups were pure serendipity, and most of the downs were my own stupid fault.
The point isn’t that life outside academe is beautiful, though it is. The point, as dearly-departed Academy Girl would say, is that “Academia isn’t the only game in town.” And the other games can often be more welcoming, more flexible, and more forgiving.
I’ll let y’all know when I’m done writing.