Post-Vacation Grad School Blues

Having recently returned from my vacation (as in, yesterday), I am confronted with the typical post-vacation work-related feet-dragging. There is certain prevalence of the idea that vacation is supposed to "recharge" you for work, that you will return ready to kick science-butt with renewed energy. Instead of being recharged, however, I find myself wondering: who are these people that are recharged after vacation? Does this really exist?

I think for the majority of graduate students, this vacation recharge is a myth.

Case in point.

However, maybe there are people that are truly rearing to go after they get back from vacation. I think that my PI is probably one of them. He let us in on this little secret of his when he told us that he spent a lot of time thinking about the philosophy of graduate school while on his most recent vacation in Mexico. Sitting on a beach, thinking about how best to mold these young minds into great hypothesis-driven, problem-crushing, publication-writing machines. This is a man who obviously enjoys his job.

...

Of course, it is probably unfair to say that most graduate students fall into the "I'm on vacation, so we're NOT talking about lab" category. I have known some fantastic grad students who remain truly curious about all things science, even while Science slowly erodes their hopes and dreams on a daily basis. They stay upbeat, read journal articles for fun at night, etc. I believe these are the people that are going to make great professors someday.

For the rest of us, it's not to say that maybe we won't be useful scientists or even great professors. I think the issue is more about the work mindset that is necessary to succeed in graduate school. For instance, I now cook as soon as I come home from school, in part because it allows me to achieve something on a shorter timescale. Many of graduate school's successes (for me anyway) are few and far between. It is difficult to celebrate an attractive gel when you have yet to get your first paper published.

For students like me, graduate school is a long and tiresome process. It is a journey. When I was a first-year, I was told by a senior grad student that graduate school is a marathon, not a sprint, and that many of his classmates were no longer there because they didn't have this particular brand of perseverance. This same student also told me that you stay in graduate school either because you love your project, or your professor. If you love both, obviously that is the ideal situation. Of course, I didn't take him very seriously at the time, but it's true that when your project is giving you grief, the only thing that really pushes you to continue with any fervor is your professor. And when your professor is a true pain to work with, genuine interest in the project is the only thing that keeps you there.

So, while I know I don't quite have the right blend of working style and personal attributes to really soar in graduate school, I know it is temporary. And I know the journey will teach me the skills and knowledge to land a career where I may experience that recharged, go-get-em attitude... when I come back from vacation :)