Why Academia Might Be the Hardest Career in the World

People think being a professor is easy.


You sit around, read a few books, teach a few classes, and write the occasional paper.






But that’s not the reality. Not even close.






I’ve talked to Olympic athletes, bankers, folks from construction—and many of them say the same thing after stepping into this profession:


“I had no idea it would be this hard.”






Because here’s what nobody tells you:


Being a professor means spending years creating ideas that no one believes in.


You wake up every day and try to convince some of the smartest, most skeptical people on the planet that your idea is worth hearing.


And you do it alone. Quietly.


For years.






It’s not just intellectually demanding—it’s emotionally brutal.






And every single day, I ask myself:


Should I quit?






The writing.


The reading.


The isolation.


The rejection.






You’re always behind. Always not doing enough.


Ten pages a day? Still not enough.


Hundreds of pages of reading? Still not enough.


And the reward? Often a silent desk and another anonymous review that dismantles your work in a paragraph.






The truth is, this job messes with your head.


The data proves it: doctoral students and faculty have some of the highest rates of depression of any professional group.


Because we are wrestling—not just with ideas—but with ourselves.






And you can’t fake it.


If you care about truth, if you work with real data, the job gets even lonelier.


Because you see the mess. You see the complexity.


And you know that what’s “publishable” isn’t always what’s true.






So why do I stay?






I’m still figuring that out.


But I think it has something to do with making peace with the grind.


Trying—somehow—to turn the isolation into something quiet and sacred.


And finding ways to detach from the metrics, from the pressure, from the impossible standards we set for ourselves.






Because if I don’t…


This job will eat me alive.






If you’re in it too—if you’re trying to do good work, trying to hold onto some joy, trying to stay kind in a career that often doesn’t reward it—then this one’s for you.






You’re not alone.


And yes, it’s this hard for all of us.