This post is a slight departure from the usual blog content. I wanted to share some thoughts I have on some of the changes that have happened in my life in the past year or so, and I don’t have anywhere else to put it. So I guess the blog will do haha. I don’t know how long this will get, but here is a TLDR for you if you really don’t feel like reading my ramblings:

• I took an extended and indeterminate leave of absence from my PhD program for mental health reasons
• Over time I realized that my thesis/PhD work was making me unhappy, and decided I didn’t want to continue
• Had a major crisis about this because like wow that’s a big change for me
• Started applying to jobs, and now I’m an esports data analyst

I guess this post also serves as my “general announcement” to everyone that I will no longer be finishing my PhD. Some people know already. But I didn’t really talk about it publicly too much until I could discuss it with my advisor.

When I put it like that, in bullet points, it all seems so straightforward. But of course in the moment and going through it, it was definitely not that simple.