Dr. Mom, My Adventures as a Mommy-Scientist

Discussion of my journey from grad school to postdoc to tenure with two kids, a husband, (and a bit of breast cancer) in tow.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The Grind

Well, things are beginning to settle down for me. The book chapter is revised, sent to the publisher and DONE! While I am still cranking through a grant proposal to be submitted next week, I have got most of the kinks worked out. I just wrapped up my conference season, giving my last talk yesterday. It went well, well attended lots of questions, no hostility. Despite all this 'success' I feel so drained.

My daughter's birthday is next week and I am embarrassed to say, my nanny has planned almost the entire party. I just haven't had time. I hadn't had a haircut since July, until I took off an hour from the conference to get it done. It felt great to be outside, in the sunlight, for a change, to be unencumbered. I can remember in undergrad when I used to go downtown to 'hang out.' I had no money, but I would go window shopping, read some books at Borders, buy a loaf of bread and some butter for lunch, and cap it off with a party in the evening. Somehow I don't think that I will ever be in that place again.

In many ways I feel like the vascular surgeon that you see on TV. The guy (and yes it is always a guy) who has no time for his family, for a life, and spends every waking moment working. The sad thing is I work far, far less than my collegues putting in a pretty consistent 40-45 hours, yet I still feel stretched tighter than a drum.

In my dream world, I would work 6 hour days. This seems to be the right balance for me, but right now this is unachievable. Oh well...this week I am taking it easy, clearing off my desk, getting that grant out, and gearing up to write a paper on all our awesome results from the last 9 months.

1 Comments:

At 6:10 PM , Blogger ScienceWoman said...

you are not alone in wanting to work 6 hour days. In my imaginary world, I get a tenure track 3/4 FTE that allows me to only work 35-40 hours a week and then go home. Because I know with a full-time job I will work far more than 40 hours a week.

 

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