I love academia more than anybody else I know. But I would have been just as happy in absolutely any other profession that I chose. If I decided to be a janitor, then that would be the best profession in the world. I could easily quit academia and not perceive it as tragic or write any of those sad quit-lit missives. The source of professional contentment resides in me and not in any specific profession.
P.S. I’m talking about being happy in any profession, not in any working conditions. Working conditions, of course, can be objectively bad.

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