As I was transitioning from postdoc to PI one of my mentors told me that being a professor was a very lonely yet rewarding experience. Even as an introvert, I'm shocked by how extremely lonely this is 1/n

I'm sure this is exacerbated by the pandemic, but there's aspects of it that won't be changing at all when this is over. I think this very important detail of being a professor needs to be said more often 2/n

Even though you're engaged in collaborative work, and busy ALL DAY LONG, it's still lonely 3/n

I didn't feel like being a grad students and postdoc wasn't lonely, so I thought I was.prepared for what my mentor told me... But nope. And by lonely I don't mean that I want to socialize more... Again it's difficult to explain 4/n

Any other assistant professors felt/feel like this during their first few years? 5/n