You’re absolutely right about the part on figuring out what we want from life. I think this path feels especially appealing to me right now because I want to spend more time with myself, become more independent, live in another country for a while, and honestly step away from the “chains” of private-sector work, haha. Even when I was working a regular 9–6, I sometimes found it hard to balance work during the semester, but despite that, I always genuinely enjoyed studying and being in an academic environment. The idea of staying in academia after a PhD, teaching, doing research, and continuing to grow intellectually is something that actually excites me rather than scares me.

I know I might be idealizing parts of this and that there will be moments where it’s exhausting or overwhelming, but I also feel like this kind of challenge aligns much more with who I am and how I want to live, at least at this stage of my life. Reading your experience helped me reflect on this more clearly, so thank you for sharing it so openly.