The return of motivation, and more career indecision

Lately I have been suffering a terrible bout of boredom, and frustration in the lab. My motivation all but evaporated while I was waiting week after week to meet with Advisor to discuss projects. Finally Advisor was able to fit me into his busy schedule, and we had a pretty good talk. BUT, I was still not excited in the least about the project ideas we discussed.

Sigh.

Then last weekend, on the drive up to see my parents, Mr. Daybyday and I had enough extra time to squeeze in a visit to wonderful grad school! Seeing all my old pals, and even my phD advisor was a breath of fresh air (though I purposefully dodged phD advisor's questions about how things were going in the lab).

It was a nice relaxing weekend, full of wonderful food (we attended a fantastic wedding, plus Canadian thanksgiving dinner - so my pregnant self was in heaven from all the awesome food!!), and the baby bump got lots of attention from family and friends back home.

Arriving back in postdoc town, I received an email from phD advisor telling me how my visit was the highlight of his otherwise not so great day. It was as close to an emotional email as I think phD advisor can write. I was very touched. I wrote back and finally disclosed to phD advisor how things really have been going for me in postdoc lab, and how I've been struggling to figure out my next career move.

I had been afraid to tell phD advisor these things for fear of disappointing him. But instead, phD advisor wrote back and was exceptionally supportive (although, in hind-sight, I should have expected this instead of his disappointment)! PhD advisor even managed to spark my enthusiasm for research again, and suddenly the funk that I've been in started to lift.

I'm still not feeling like an eager beaver just yet, but it's a step in the right direction. And it's got me thinking (again) that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be a prof after all. I wonder if I'll ever make up my mind....