Back to nature

I am leaving academia. And I'm not bitter. I only say that because I get the feeling many of the people leaving academia are leaving because they're bitter they haven't been offered the dream faculty position they've been told they deserve.

I am leaving to get back to nature. I started doing science as a way to express my love of nature, and to follow my curiosity of how organisms evolve and interact to create the lovely biodiversity we see every time we walk outside. The only problem is, the more I advance within academia, the less I am able to go for those walks outside to appreciate nature. I am usually up (and in the winter, at work) before the sun rises, work in an artificially lit environment all day either staring at a computer screen or moving infinitely small volumes of liquid from one container to another, and then leave after ~10+ hours of this for some hope of a few hours down time (which can include lots of work-related reading) before starting it all again the next day.

Don't get me wrong, I love research. I love learning new things and living on the edge of human knowledge. But the cost is that I rarely get to interact with nature anymore, the very love that drove me to this crazy lifestyle. I miss her. My heart aches for a chance to be with her. It is worth the feelings of failure, for that is how most people look at the lost academic.

What am I doing next? That is a topic for tomorrow...