When I can actually focus my mind on work, I really do love it. But it's hard not to think of everything else that's so horrible about the field, especially now. Many schools have hiring freezes, which means people who are looking for jobs this year have far fewer positions to apply to in fields that have already been incredibly competitive. As friend N remarked the other day, higher education needs a bailout too. :)
The next two weeks of my life will be horribly stressful again if I am to make my deadlines. I will take the 25th off, and after that, I'll be going up to SF for a few days to meet up with old friends from graduate school who will be at the big annual conference for our field. I do want to see old friends but I can barely think of the trip as a true "vacation." Honestly, I can't wait for June, when the academic year ends--even though my work clock won't stop ticking then, I hope I'll be better able to leave the anxiety behind.
I still love my postdoc, but that doesn't stop me from recognizing that this is a brutal profession. I really don't know that I can recommend it to people who might consider starting a PhD program with the hopes of becoming a professor, at least not in the humanities.
One positve thing is that you have a job. Scary esp now that more financial scandals are surfacing making a bad situation even worse
ReplyDeletelong story, but yes, i have a one year buffer zone. however, if the economy doesn't improve, it's going to be super stressful next year!
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