graduate students Archives - Being Lazy and Slowing Down

“I am learning to normalize uncertainty”: An interview with Dr. Fatimah Williams on her career and entrepreneurship journey

December 10, 2019October 27, 2020Kimine Mayuzumiacademic life & challenges, productivity & meaning

By Kimine Mayuzumi Fatimah Williams, Ph.D. is the CEO & Founder of Beyond the Tenure Track, a professional development and career-planning firm that prepares graduate students, faculty, and PhDs for leadership roles and high-quality careers. Her professional development guidance has been featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, Scientific American, and University Affairs. She has been an invited speaker at leading conferences such as the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools and the…

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How I am Embracing the Uncertainty of Tomorrow

May 2, 2019October 27, 2020Kevin Pajaroproductivity & meaning, shame & lazy

By Kevin Pajaro As a new professional of color with a graduate degree, I now recognize how my educational journey overall has left me feeling fragmented, confused, lost, and scared. At the moment, I am struggling to embrace the uncertainty of tomorrow. Not having my next career-related transition mapped out cements a deep fear that I am not living up to the potential I have for myself, nor the potential others see in me. I…

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3 Strategies for Mental Health Care in Grad School

February 7, 2019October 27, 2020Dana Kanhaiacademic life & challenges, self-care & body

By Dana Kanhai In February 2018, I was diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). While the exact cause of SAD is unknown, this type of depression is associated with the changing of the seasons and experiencing less sunlight during the fall and winter. When I was diagnosed, I promptly started light therapy and cognitive behavior therapy which helped tremendously. I finally told my husband how I had been feeling and asked my mother to come…

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A Woman of Color Navigating the Academic Culture from Grad School to Faculty Experiences: An Interview with Dr. Cleopatra Abdou – Part II

September 5, 2018December 3, 2025Kimine Mayuzumiacademic life & challenges, productivity & meaning

By Kimine Mayuzumi In Part I, Dr. Cleopatra Abdou described how she practices harmonizing her life as a scholar, a professional, a partner, and a mother. Here, in Part II, she discusses her greatest challenge in harmonizing her life–adjusting to the cultural context of academia from graduate school through the role of faculty member. Kimine: You said (in Part I), while being happy with your harmonized life, the academic culture has been one of the…

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What imposter feelings taught me about my strength: A graduate student’s story on slowing down

January 30, 2017December 8, 2025Roilui Sinacademic life & challenges, shame & lazy, slow down & healing

By Roilui Sin Feeling like an imposter is not new to me as a graduate student. I have felt it since childhood. I am the youngest of two, my parents had emigrated from China in the early 70s – first to Brazil and then settling in Canada in 1985 when I was a toddler. Growing up, I felt like an outsider, needing to fit in and protect myself from being revealed as a “phony” Canadian.…

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