Dr. @hishamzerriffi is my best friend and he had THIS EXACT CONVERSATION with me about a decade ago (-ish).

As you can tell, I not only have my PhD but I also have supervised and graduated PhD students (and MA, MSc and BA).

Having this conversation with someone YOU TRUST... https://twitter.com/hishamzerriffi/status/1248135333239115776

... is KEY. Hopefully, as @hishamzerriffi pointed out, it should be with your supervisor/advisor. If you can't have this conversation with them, then maybe someone else.

Graduate school doesn't define you, and leaving doesn't define you either.

You are inherently worthy.

Hisham and I share not only many years of friendship but a very similar approach towards graduate and undergraduate student supervision.

So, I'll use his prompt to speak to supervisors/advisors: ERR ON THE SIDE OF KINDNESS.

We are in the midst of a global pandemic, FFS.

You can be a rigorous scholar and a kind one as well.

Dr. Elinor Ostrom and Dr. Vincent Ostrom were the two brightest minds I ever met, and they were also the nicest. And while we are all busy, I'm always here if people need to talk, particularly about quitting.

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