Very early in my doctoral journey, I was fortunate to experience that moment when you know the decision you have made was the right one. It came with the realisation that I was being paid, not very much admittedly, but nonetheless funded, to sit down every day, to read, think and write, and occasionally talk, freely – and about something I was interested in.
My future colleagues probably won't thank me for saying it but academia is a very well kept secret. It is not easier than business or industry, it is not less 'real', it is not any less or any more stressful, it just allows you to use your mind differently and for a different purpose. You still have to produce; you still have targets, even if they are the project steps and the self-inflicted deadlines of a PhD; you still have to work with other people; and you still have to deal with your own self-doubt and over-confidence. However, what makes it special is that academia is an endeavour of the mind. Obvious when you finally have the space to think about it.
