Seeing a lot of tweets circulating about work/life balance in academia today, so I thought I’d share my thoughts:

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As a PhD student with crohn’s disease, I often feel as though the cult of overwork compounds the already isolating process of PhD research.

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I was in the office from 9 until half past 5 today working on my PhD, as well as doing some bits and pieces for my part-time AL contract.

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I didn’t quite manage to finish everything I wanted to, so planned to finish everything tonight.

I am completely exhausted, and there’s next to no chance I’ll be doing anything productive tonight.

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But should I feel guilty? I know I shouldn’t.

But at the same time, I feel as though everytime I check Twitter I am bombarded with tales of 100 hour work weeks and the guilt comes rushing back.

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As PhD students we fetishise overwork. It is enshrined as a right of passage.

I have friends and colleagues who work evenings and weekends regularly. In this environment, it’s hard not to feel intimidated when you just don’t have the energy to keep up.

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Of course, this issue goes far beyond the humble brag on twitter. It’s a structural problem which comes from the top down. But I do think that celebrating unhealthy work practices contributes to a broader cultural problem.

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