Hmmm .... the obvious facts in print

So I am sitting discussing my future plans with my roommate and I realize that the only direction left is to run after money!

Ive tried my hand at further studies since I thought it was like the path towards salvation. It offers you a chance to work your ass off and get paid little in return. A life somewhere between that of a businessman and a hermit. But I forgot one important bit while charting this path for myself. The fact is that a PhD is not everyone's cup of tea after all. There are only two kinds of people that do a PhD. The first are the lovers. Lovers of science, lovers of arts or lovers of whichever field they see fit. These lovers want to spend as much of their time as possible with their love. They want to explore it, feel it, live with it and in the extreme case, even die alongside it. They are the ones who never feel the dilemma of choice at all. They are passionate creatures with only one desire.

The other kind of people are the world-fearing ones. They are the ones who know, by a personal experience or a personal lack of belief that they do not have what it takes to step into the real world. They are the ones that either tried and were shot down or those who did not try at all. And not surprisingly, there is no shortage of people like them. Confidence is a rare asset it seems.

Hence, if you are not in either of these two categories, the chances of survival in this harsh academic climate are slim. Of course we all have the option to conform to one of these two types. But as it might be obvious, both are types that someone cannot adopt just by practice. These two kinds of people are born that way and it is hard to 'become' that way.