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I’ve wanted to dedicate my life to studying biological and environmental sciences since I was five. And while I was lucky to know my life purpose from an early age, it also came with its curse. But why?
See? When the idea of what you’d like to have in your future is so set in the inner stone of your whole identity, it is very hard to change direction, even if a particular career doesn’t match your lifestyle or personal needs.
For a longer time, I thought I could only accomplish my dream by being an academic: teaching at a university and researching with my students and peers. But I wished I had known that many other career paths could fulfill my dreams.
That said, there’s a question I always get from my fellow academics: How did I know it was time to leave?
Indeed, deciding to leave academia can feel overwhelming and even life-threatening. After years of dedication to research, publishing, and teaching, stepping into the unknown can seem inconceivable.
But as I mentioned earlier, staying in academia isn’t the only way to pursue meaningful, impactful work. Sometimes, it’s not about giving up but finding a path that fits you better.
Here are 10 signs that it might be time for you to move beyond academia — and how to take the next steps toward a fulfilling career. These are not, by any means, all the signs I saw in my own case, but a collection extracted from conversations with other academics who’ve made the same change in their lives.
Read the full story in the link below. |
