Are you feeling stuck, unmotivated, or wondering what happened to the joy you once felt in your academic work? You’re not alone. Today, I’m tackling one of the most common and least discussed challenges in the scholarly journey: the mid-career slump.

This episode is part of our Mid-Career Series, where I am exploring what it really takes to thrive after tenure. If you’ve hit that milestone and expected relief, only to feel even more frustrated and overwhelmed, this conversation is for you.

I unpack how the academic system sets you up to sprint toward tenure, pushing yourself harder and harder in pursuit of safety and validation, and why, when you finally get there, that safety often feels like an illusion. You’ll hear why the habits, mindsets, and patterns that got you to tenure can easily lead to burnout afterward, and how to shift them now, whether you’re pre-tenure and want to avoid the slump, or mid-career and ready to reclaim joy, purpose, and balance in your work.

If you’ve ever thought, “Is this really what I worked so hard for?”, this episode will help you find your way back to a sustainable and meaningful academic career.

Tune in to hear why mid-career burnout isn’t inevitable, and how to realign your choices, priorities, and time so your academic life actually supports your wellbeing, not drains it.

For full show notes visit scholarsvoice.org/podcast.

 

We're receiving applications for our next cohort of Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap®. Check out the program details and start your application process here.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:

1. Our 12-week Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap® program helps tenure-track womxn and nonbinary professors to publish their backlog of papers so that their voice can have the impact they know is possible. Apply here!

2. Cathy’s book, Making Time to Write: How to Resist the Patriarchy and Take Control of Your Academic Career Through Writing is available in print! Learn how to build your career around your writing practice while shattering the myths of writing every day, accountability, and motivation, doing mindset work that’s going to reshape your writing,and changing academic culture one womxn and nonbinary professor at a time. Get your print copy today or order it for a friend here!

3. If you would like to hear more from Cathy for free, please subscribe to the weekly newsletter, In the Pipeline, at scholarsvoice.org. It’s a newsletter that she personally writes that goes out once a week with writing and publication tips, strategies, inspiration, book reviews and more.

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