And the light emerges
admin October 24th, 2007
Profgrrrl posted this professional fantasy today
“My current fantasy*
• The cleaning fairies show up and make everything spotless.
• The organizational fairies show up and do things like file, punch holes and stick things in binders, clean up the desktop of my computer, enter things in EndNote, etc. etc.
• I don’t have to show up to the office for a month.
• I wake every morning, go for a walk or jog, read at ‘bux for an hour or two with a cup of tea, and then write in my home office all afternoon. I write into the evening, too, because I simply cannot pull myself away from the work that interests me so much.
• I only receive social, informational, and intellectually stimulating emails.
• NO MEETINGS!
• My data analysis software does everything I want it to do, and more.
• I get enough sleep each night.
• I feel brilliant.
*professional/non romance personal version”
And I found myself completely agreeing, though of course I am no prof. I also found myself thinking, “Yep, that’s why I want to be a science writer. Most of this will come true for me.” Of course I am well aware that the grass is always greener etc etc, but really many of these issues are what are pushing me for a career change. I want to be my own boss. I want the ability to choose what I write about and investigate. When one topic begins to bore me, I want to move to something else. I want to be constantly learning. I want to be able to do something else one day if I like. I only want to go to meetings that I want to go to. I want to be able to work from home or a coffee shop if I wish. I want to set my own hours so that I can sleep when I need to.
In other words, I am SO EXCITED about the possibility of a change.
I had a great long talk with one of my advisers yesterday. I just walked into his office and started asking questions. This is one thing that I really value about this adviser. Not once has he told me he was too busy to talk, or tried to hurry it up so that he could go somewhere or do something else. Not that the man isn’t busy. The man works like a horse, but I can always talk to him. He was very honest with me. He told me all the negative things about his career, a career he loves. He told me about how he has seen it change since he started. He told me that of course he wants his students to become professors because he thinks it is a great job, and he would like to have a network of his protégés out there working.
But, he told me, you have to really want it. You have to work to beat out the other people, and you have to make sacrifices. I know this. I have observed it. It was nice, though, to hear it from him. Of course I wouldn’t have to be a professor at a large research university, but I also know that smaller universities come with their own set of problems. And though I don’t dislike teaching, I am not sure that I would want to devote my career to it. I admitted to him my interest in science writing, and he was very encouraging. It was great. Now I have an ally when talking to my other adviser, which should make it much easier. And I also have a little bit more confidence.
All in all, yesterday was a very good day. I think today just might be a good day too.