Having only just started my academic career I perhaps do not yet fully appreciate this quote. I stumbled across this blog post on Scientific American, written by Radhika Nagpal, a few weeks ago and realised I have been telling everyone about it ever since.

I only officially started my PhD in October (I say officially as I was working in the field during the previous year, but had not yet attained funding for a PhD). However, during my relatively short time in the academic world, I have noticed how much I look up to and admire those individuals willing to sacrifice everything in the name of Science.

There is something almost superhuman about those people whom will work all night in search of the answer to a specific question. It is incredibly admirable, but the aforementioned article discusses the author’s struggle to balance work and a family. I myself have been pondering where to draw the line between home and work. At the start of a PhD, plenty of people warn you that you will be working flat out and not to treat this is a 9 to 5 job. I certainly have no problem with hard work, in fact, I enjoy my work so much that I am often guilty of being in the office at weekends trying to perfect a figure or re-word a paragraph in a paper. The search for perfection carries on.

My problem lies not in my lack of life outside of work, but this near constant feeling that my time could be better spent at work. I was not always this tenacious. I think the turning point was my first year of sixth form college, I had finally, after many years of not fitting in at school, found a group of friends who accepted me. This meant that the majority of my time was spent socialising, I had also just learnt to drive and was enjoying the freedom that came with it. This all came crashing down on results day. I can still remember the tone of my Mother’s voice when I told her that I was awarded four E grades for Biology, Chemistry, Physics and another subject whose name escapes me. It wasn’t the words she spoke, but rather the disappointment in her voice. At that point, I knew that something needed to change if I wanted to make anything of myself in life. I’m still working on that so I’ll keep you posted…