Dr Lisa Nivison-Smith Profile picture
Sep 21 β€’ 8 tweets β€’ 3 min read
Grants 😞
Manuscripts 😣
Course evaluations 😫

Rejection is everywhere in academia.

But we keep it quiet.
Only stories of success get told.

So heres a story on rejection:
"The potato, the egg and tea bag"

@AcademicChatter
A young man comes to his father.

"Father, life is hard. I'm struggling all the time. Just as I solve one problem, another follows"

The father nods. "Come with me."
He takes man to the kitchen and fills 3 pots with boiling water.
In the first pot he places a potato.
In the second pot he places an egg. In the third pot he places a tea bag.

After some time, the father takes the potato, egg and tea bag out of the boiling water

β€œWhat do you see?” he asks

"A potato, egg and tea bag" the man replies annoyed
"Look closer" the father says

The man sees the potato has gone mushy and the egg has boiled. The tea bag was unchanged but its boiling water now had a delicious smell.

β€œWhat does this mean?” he asks

The father explains:
Each thing faced the same challenge, the boiling water.
Each reacted differently.

The potato was hard. The water made it soft.

The egg was soft. The water made it hard.

The tea bag stayed the same & made the water better.

Life is about chosing to be a potato, egg or tea bag
In academia, rejection is our boiling water.

Most default to the potato. Rejection shakes confidence.

Some are the egg.
Rejection builds resilience.

The tea bag reminds us rejection is an experience we have, not a reflection of who we are.
In an ideal world, we always convert rejection into something positive. Like the tea bag converts boiling water into a delicious drink.

But in reality, sometimes rejection will soften us. Or harden us. And that's ok. There is no perfect response.

But it's a story you can tell
Enjoyed this🧡? Please RT the first tweet.

And follow me @LNivisonSmith if you are interested in

- macular degeneration research
- #WomeninSTEM
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- musings from a mother trying to survive #academia

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