After some tweets by @xiaofei_lin and @sanjanacurtis, I've been thinking about the role of passion and non-science related activities in my life, and have reached (personal) conclusions.
Beware #AcademicChatter, long #mentalhealth thread ahead. (0/11)

I've never been someone with un-ending boundless passion or who wants to spend all of their time engaged with research or science podcasts or outreach, though I've always envied those who do. (1/11)

I enjoy painting, reading, playing stupid games, and someday I'd love to learn to cook something more complicated than (admittedly delicious) scrambled eggs. (2/11)

I've always thought if I were REALLY dedicated, I'd WANT to work on my research, professional development, or just plain old science, 24/7, and that I should be genuinely passionate about my work, ALL THE TIME. (3/11)

But I'm not one of those people. I've always felt guilty about what I saw as a fatal personal/professional failure. Sure, when I get my teeth into a problem or get into the rhythm of research, I can find myself needing to work on it. (4/11)

Sometimes this need is to overshadows everything else, including sleep, food, or human contact. Still, it's not a desire in the way it seems to be for so many others; it's more like a compulsion. (5/11)

Since quarantine started, I've had the "opportunity" to be locked in an apartment with my work 24/7. Because I'd lost so much time already, I felt I was months behind schedule and should be working every waking moment to catch up. (6/11)

Finally, the stress reached a breaking point, and I spent 10 hours straight playing mindless video games until my brain shut down and I passed out. (7/11)

The next day I got up, happily re-organized all of my physical materials, re-planned my current research arc, and decided to let myself spend time doing things OTHER than what I "should" be doing. (8/11)

I've found that after a break, whether it lasted hours or *gasp* an actual full weekend, I work more quickly, and my results are better. I'm usually EXCITED to go back to my work after having been away. (9/11)

When all is said and done, I'm starting to accept that I don't have one thing I love doing, and I never will--I have LOTS of things I love doing, and my passion for each one varies from day-to-day. (10/11)

Some days, I'm going to want to do nothing but my research. Other days, I may not be able to think about anything other than that new painting technique I want to try. I'm finally starting to think that might be okay. (11/11)