Published online 3 December 2008
Postdoc journal
All work and no play
Aliza le Roux
Aliza le Roux is a postdoctoral fellow in animal behaviour at the University of Michigan.
Is my career taking over my life, one baboon at a time?
It was an ordinary day at the office. My nose was a frozen spike of ice, rain pattered on my leather hat, and I'd momentarily lost my focal group. A gelada genteelly passed gas behind me and I became aware of the soft babbling of 250 monkeys on the way to their sleeping site. There was a big smile on my face. What an office!
I feel more inspired by this work than any other employment I've undertaken. Perhaps the isolation is having an effect. This field site stands in sharp contrast to the site for my PhD, where there was a lively social scene. I enjoyed that time immensely. Dare I admit that I spent most of my days in the field there pondering the intricacies of relationships, social blunders and old-fashioned gossip?
Now — shockingly — I find myself thinking about work. Yes, I have times in which I daydream about my loved ones and the next holiday, but those are brief moments. My mind is so uncluttered that I am constantly evaluating experiments, trying to look at different angles of research questions, wondering which PDFs I need to find when I'm in civilization again.
At least during daylight hours, my thoughts instinctively run that way. Is this when I discover that my career is taking over my life? Send me someone — anyone! — and we can discuss the matter ...
Postdoc Journal Keepers 2008
-
Jon YearsleyJon Yearsley is a senior postdoc in evolutionary genetics at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
-
Zachary LippmanZachary Lippman is a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's faculty of agriculture.
-
Amanda GohAmanda Goh is a postdoctoral fellow in cell biology under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research in Singapore.
-
Aliza le RouxAliza le Roux is a postdoctoral fellow in animal behaviour at the University of Michigan.
