I am an academic (for better and worse 🙄
I teach and do research, and I recently accepted additional responsibilities (program coordinator). My professional life and professional activities are important to me and form a big part of my identity.
I’m sort of smack dab in the middle of my academic career, I recently got tenure, moved to a better institution (got tenure here), am running several research projects, supervise grad students…
But I also value work/life balance and try really hard to preserve some free time for myself. That didn’t work well last year, my first year at the new institution. In the fall semester, I pretty much worked seven days a week for about four months straight. It was awful. The spring semester got a little better, and I hoping the coming year will be even better.
So although my professional identity is important to me, and I care deeply about the work I do, I also don’t want it to take over my life.
Balance is hard to achieve and even harder to maintain.