Wish universities had more discussion about the mental health effects of researching some topics. Spoke with my climate researcher friend last night, and I’ve never heard her more distressed when discussing the science behind the air quality on the West Coast right now.

There seems to be stubborn stereotype of research as cold and distant, therefore lacking emotional impact. But, many people in the go into their fields due to emotional, political, and social attachments to their field of study, or they end of developing them.

Instead you choose a topic, often centered on some type of trauma or discrimination, and you’re expected to entirely engross yourself in it and rarely does anyone go “that’s heavy stuff, you okay?” Nah, you just need to be an expert, teach it, & bring in grant money

Leaving this thread to go write my diss on technocapitalism’s engulfment of human life now, and continue to be grateful that my advisors start every meeting with “how are you?” not “how’s your project?”