So, you’ve left Academia! CONGRATS.
What did you expect, a medal?
I’ve been there, done that. Leaving academia is hard, especially when all you’ve dreamed of for years was successfully becoming that scholar in that field. We are groomed to cultivate a certain image of ourselves in grad school, aren’t we? I left academia for a combination of personal and professional reasons. I know it was the right decision for myself, both at the time and long term.
Yet even now, a solid six years after getting out, I still wistfully watch my friends and colleagues who “made it” publish their books, give those postered talks, and seem to get on with their scholarly lives. Yes, I know it’s not all sunshine and roses: I see the stress, I hear the complaints – often stemming from truly egregious, devastating working conditions. Ultimately, I couldn’t be more glad that I got out when I did. I have a great job in a small private school where the parents are supportive, the kids are smart and challenging, and I feel that what I do matters.
I admit it: I wish I still had my sweet campus office
with wall-to-wall bookshelves.
But leaving academia for good is admittedly a mixed bag. For instance, I do miss hanging out with adult-aged students, who got my jokes and loved watching serious (and seriously funny) Spanish movies. I wish I still had my sweet office with wall-to-wall bookshelves. I miss that environment where it feels like things are happening, like what we read and write matters. Does it? Did it?
Does what I’m writing now matter?
Share your stories
And you? Tell us your story. Why did you leave? What are you doing now? How is your recovery going? Would you go back if our higher ed system were to change drastically? We here at Recovering Academics would love you to share your outrageous, entertaining, heartbreaking, poignant stories of getting out. Let’s build a recovering community here together.
After all, once an academic, always an academic, I guess.
