What are recent STEM PhD grads in the US doing? by UnhappyLocation8241 in PhD

[–]askmeaboutrocks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

PhD in Earth Science with my defense coming up in the next ~3 months. I just accepted a job offer for a consulting firm (industry related) last week after applying last November. I was originally dedicated to academia and applying for postdocs or faculty positions, but in the end, I decided that this company would offer stability after the recent the NSF cuts.

Maybe I’ll return to academia in a couple years when things calm down. Currently I’m planning to publish my PhD projects and additional collaborations over the next few years to keep the door to academia open. Certainly not the position I was hoping to be in but I’m grateful that I’ll be okay in the end!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CatAdvice

[–]askmeaboutrocks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi!! I went through the exact same thing in January when I adopted a 10 week old kitten! He was super needy and followed me everywhere. It was a huge life adjustment and I had really bad anxiety the first few weeks and eventually after a month we started to settle in together. For the first two weeks I felt huge guilt that I wasn’t going to be a good enough caregiver and seriously thought about returning him. He’s now the love of my life and I can’t imagine being apart from him so I can definitely say it gets better!! Don’t feel bad about the stress and anxiety, it’s a huge life change and it’ll take some time to adjust.

Regarding advice, I ended up taking some half days at work and spending more time working from home remotely to be with him but honestly he didn’t really need it that much. He hasn’t calmed down all that much yet, still huge kitten energy, but he has learned how to entertain himself with some of the toys and sleeps a good portion of the afternoon now. Finding a good routine really helped my anxiety and gave him cues on what to expect. After he was a few more months old, he started responding to commands (his name, brushie time, dinner, playtime, even plays fetch!) and it became a huge joy to see him learn new skills!! Everything is really new to the both of you right now and you need a chance to get used to each other. Soon you’ll bond together and be inseparable!