A Mile Down, I Hit Bottom

The footage was perfect. Pacific white skates laying eggs next to hydrothermal vents, a mile down where nothing should survive. "Something none of us expected," I told the press. What I didn't say: I'd been expecting to quit for months. Four years those eggs take to hatch. Four years, like a PhD that's slowly killing you. The deep-sea cameras captured life in the most hostile place on Earth. I couldn't capture why I felt dead inside. My advisor called it groundbreaking. I called my therapist. We found thousands of eggs in the abyss, perfectly adapted to survive crushing pressure and scalding heat. I couldn't survive a lab meeting without crying in the bathroom after. The discovery made headlines. I made another appointment with student counseling. Some creatures thrive in impossible conditions. I'm not one of them. #LabBurnout #GradSchoolLife #ScienceFatigue #Science