By the standards of the world, my profession, and my paying work, I would be the model example of failure in my career. I am not attending conferences, hobnobbing with fellow colleagues in the field, and I am not keeping up with current research and publishing.
It is time to throw in the towel and call me done. Look up the word 'failure' (to do one's job well) in the dictionary, and my name and photograph will be found in the definition of the term.
Wait a minute.
I am still here. Do you believe that I have accepted the stamp of 'failure' to succeed in my career?
Sometimes I believe I might have. Looking at social media updates with "tenure" in it or noticing the lengthy running credits of friends' recent academic accomplishments can be quite unnerving and intimidating. Or drive me into despair.
But, I have had a strong feeling that I should be doing the project that I have been undertaking, until the work is done. Whilst in process, I have nothing to show that convinces anyone that my intuition not anything more than a flight of fancy but is grounded in something significant and worthy of attention.
My (academic) training has no small role to play in the undertaking of this project. I love, with a deep passion, my field, my discipline. And, no one is going to take away how doing/studying the discipline has shaped and will continue to change my life.
Am I a success? Will I be a success? Let us not start from the unknown but the known. I am going to finish this (monumental) project I started. Godspeed, please!
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