Is Academic Life Worth It? Here’s What Keeps Me Going.

R3ciprocity.com - Prof David Maslach: Innovation; Research Life; Striving Towards Happiness · Apr 23, 2026 · 18m

I know it’s easy to talk about the dark side of academia: the rejections, the grind, the isolation, the politics. But today, I want to talk about something else—something softer. The quiet joys of this life. The things I’ve come to appreciate after years in the profession.

We don’t talk about them enough. And yet, they’re the very things that have kept me going.

Here are 10 joys I’ve found in academic life—none of them will make the front page, but they’ve made all the difference.

1. Fall on a university campus. There’s something achingly beautiful about it—the changing leaves, the crisp air…