Cradle yourself

“A person undertaking research needs to cradle themselves in things that make them feel good. They need to be able to step away and recognize that leaving their project for a couple of days actually does make the world a better place. I think it takes quite a while for that to sink in. I think I’m still learning to do that.

Research can be an isolating journey, especially to novice researchers. It takes a helpful social context, a friendly environment that nudges student researchers to recognize that taking breaks is indispensable. That this text might take three hours to write at night and will take 30 minutes to write after a good night’s sleep on the next morning.

The institutions at which we learn and teach should take a more proactive role in fostering these environments that instruct students to be mindful and smart about how they invest their energy and solve challenges. Otherwise, research can turn out to be just not very healthy. Students should not be facing the possibly most challenging project of their academic careers and face down every individual problem, challenge, and nuisance in perfect isolation. That’s not what we have educational institutions for.”

(Kim Beasy)