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& #39;m shocked by how extremely lonely this is 1/n

I& #39;m sure this is exacerbated by the pandemic, but there& #39;s aspects of it that won& #39;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& #39;re engaged in collaborative work, and busy ALL DAY LONG, it& #39;s still lonely 3/n

I didn& #39;t feel like being a grad students and postdoc wasn& #39;t lonely, so I thought I was.prepared for what my mentor told me... But nope. And by lonely I don& #39;t mean that I want to socialize more... Again it& #39;s difficult to explain 4/n

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