At the end of my 1st semester of grad school, my cohort was discussing our winter break plans. Going home, visiting friends and family. The prof of our grad seminar replied, “When I was in grad school I spent my winter breaks writing and doing research.” #AcademicTwitter THREAD

By this time, I’d already heard many messages from profs enforcing grind culture. One said “the first year of grad school is like boot camp. We weed people out.”

Another said, “if you don’t have a nervous breakdown or a serious drinking problem by the end of the year, you’re doing well for yourself.”

This first semester was just the beginning of being told, implicitly and explicitly, that everything I was doing wasn’t good enough.

It was also a realization for me that choosing a career where I would be verbally and emotionally abused time and time again wasn’t for me. For me, I needed a career outside of the R1. I know not all R1s may be that toxic, but that was my conclusion.

I longed for a space where I could feel appreciated and valued, and where when I said I wanted to take winter break to rest and spend time with family it was not judged, and instead, encouraged. I found that place in a community college.

Many of my community college colleagues also completed doctorates at R1 institutions. They got me, and they welcomed me as an adjunct.

This is my long winded way of saying: academia does not have to be all doom and gloom. It does not have to be nervous breakdown after nervous breakdown. It can be fulfilling and it can give you a balanced life.

Sometimes folks assume I hate academia because of this account. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I hope that you, too, can find happiness in your career, whether it is in academia or anywhere else #AcademicTwitter