Crafting a life in academia and carving out a space for family

Starting out a life and a career in academia requires courage and patience. At times, it may not seem like a good choice for life as there seems no separation between work and family time. The pressure of writing, reading, teaching, research projects, and publications can eat one alive. Life in the academia is not a nine to five kind of a job. It is more like a 24 hours and 7 days a week (24/7) kind of job. Therefore, to choose the world of academia is to choose a different kind of family life. To us, life in academia is like being a student forever. This fits the motto of “life-long” learning. As partners, we understand that sometimes “family life” may have to come in later then the deadlines for papers and projects. Necessary sacrifices are made with little complaints and struggles. However, this may not be the case forever. It’s hard to imagine what would life like when babies and children are involved in the process? While it’s “reasonable” to ask your partner to “wait” or “leave you alone” for a few days or weeks, it would be “irrational” to expect your children to “stop bugging” your when you write yourself into a hole. As we start our journey together in the world of academia while creating a family, how to balance the two worlds is going to be a “life-long” research project.