Breakthrough Doesn't Fix Burnout

I spent three years staring at fossil cross-sections, mapping climate data from 183 million years ago. The Jenkyns event. Endothermy in theropods. Words that meant everything and nothing. When we finally published—when Current Biology accepted our paper on dinosaur thermoregulation—I thought I'd feel different. Vindicated. Like the sleepless nights coding climate models were worth it. Instead, I sat in my car outside the lab, reading the acceptance email twice. The T-Rex developed warm blood to survive climate chaos. I developed anxiety to survive grad school. My advisor called it 'career-defining work.' I called my therapist. The dinosaurs figured out how to thrive in harsh environments 200 million years ago. I'm still working on it. The discovery will change textbooks. It won't change the fact that I cry in bathroom stalls between seminars. 🧠📉 #Science #GradSchoolLife #LabBurnout