The Myth of the Winter Break in Academia

I get this comment all the time: "You get so much time off! Six weeks for the holidays, and the whole summer!" And every. Single. Time. I roll my eyes. No offense or anything, but lets get real here. No, I don't get time off as a professor/teacher. Just because I don't have to be in a classroom doesn't mean I got to relax for the last six weeks. Yes, I got some awesome and amazing travel in, but I also worked. Every. Single. Day. I wrote and submitted two grants. Wrote a ton of lectures (though not nearly as many as I'd planned). Prepared for the coming semester where I'm teaching a brand new class. Read articles every day. Did research (not anywhere as much as I'd hoped). And didn't take nearly enough time to just chill. I'm rather kicking myself about that now, to be honest. I needed more time to regroup, as 2015 kind of kicked my butt. And class start today and another break-neck semester begins. Sigh. Work-life balance, where art thou?

So, word to the wise, don't ask a teacher what they did over "break" like it was a vacation. Chances are you'll get an irritated look ;)