A challenging (for me) thing about academia: our currency is feedback, criticism, and peer reviews. There is constant assessment from leaders, peers, and students.
This is net positive. At a public institution it keeps us accountable to our mission, it keeps our research rigorous and meaningful, it keeps our teaching standards evolving.
This is also tough some days. Constant feedback is better than none, but finding the real coaches through the noise is hard, and the noise is so loud.
It’s so easy to get discouraged and tired. Nothing in particular happening, I’m just feeling the weight of it lately as I reach higher heights.
I generally trend towards “people pleasing” and 11 years in higher education have yet to correct that.
Elsbeth Magilton 