#light drop

Spending the December holidays alone for the first time in my life because my family is a mess. I've fulfilled the peak depressed young adult stereotype.

So is anyone else kind of overwhelmed at the abundance of "stuck at home? Here do ___ for free" like just because I'm spending most days at home does not mean that I don't have anything to do? the amount of "extra" time I have is literally only the time it used to take to commute to the University, and seeing all these entertainment and educational stuff makes me feel like I must be doing something wrong because everyone else apparently has all this free time now and I'm still scrambling to get my stuff done

That feeling when you haven't closed your computer in weeks and you can finally close all the tabs and programs and shut it down

A junior student asked me something along the lines of: you're so successful, I have days when I feel so dumb, did you ever feel like this? And I was like: dude I feel that way every day. I thanked then for sharing how they felt and validated their feelings. I also told them about imposter syndrome and growth mentality, and shared some of the strategies I use to deal with self deprecating thoughts, but I think what they appreciated the most was that I was open about the topic. It's about time we get rid of the stigma around mental health, especially with how toxic academia can be.

All I want is a partner who is a decent human being, appreciates science, doesn't want kids, and wants to go on adventures with me