I Counted Microplastics, Not Hours Slept

Lab notebook, unsent: I spent weeks picking through earthworm guts, searching for something I hoped I wouldn’t find. Microplastics, everywhere. Thirty percent of earthworms, nearly a quarter of slugs and snails—little threads of polyester, like the lint from my own lab coat. I used to think the worst part of this job was the failed experiments. Now it’s realizing the data is worse than I imagined, and I’m too tired to be shocked. I want to care more than I do, but after the fifth rerun, it’s just numbers and fragments and the quiet knowledge that the problem is bigger than my capacity to fix it. We’re all contaminated. I keep working, but I’m not sure if it’s hope or habit. #ScienceFatigue #LabBurnout #EcoAnxiety #Science