How Do I Go About Making an Informed Decision About Returning to Academia vs. Becoming an Independent Researcher?

Letter Sixteen: Dear Dissatisfied and Tired

Particularly in the space of academia where there’s always another degree or position or grant or one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share your work to strive towards, I think celebrating is one of the most crucial things to do. It forces you to stop and take a clearer look at all the work that you have done and recognize it as worth honoring. To acknowledge all the energy and effort that brought you to completing a masters.

Which brings me to, of course you’re tired! How very human of you to be exhausted at the end of years of learning, researching, and writing a comprehensive piece of original work!!! (Emphasis for normalizing, not for yelling or judgement). It makes all the sense in the world to me.