I’m not naive enough to pretend there are many readers here, but I’ve been keeping this public notebook of academic musings for awhile now, and every so often I get a letter in response. This one was from a PhD student who read my thoughts last month on mental health and the academy.

It got me thinking about not-so-visible dividing lines. These plagued me when I made the decision to go to graduate school and embark on a PhD. It was hard, as it should be. But it was a bit extra spicy for me, I think, because I took off quite a bit of time to explore the world, start a couple businesses, make some music… you know, to live.

So going back to school was fraught with these occasional moments of self-doubt and introspection.

Am I doing the right thing?

When is a challenge or difficulty a sign to quit and go another way, and when is it simply an obstacle to be overcome?

And, of course, when I was truly stuck: do I need a kind word or a kick in the pants?

This is a tough one, and I won’t try to offer some kind of universal prescription. Because of course it’s contingent, and of course nothing is stable. So it’s extremely important, I think, to listen to yourself – or to whoever: your friend who’s going through a hard time, or the student that you’re mentoring or advising. Each situation is its own encounter.

But beyond that, and aside from the kindness and compassion, there really are times when the only thing that helps is a kick to the pants. At the end of the day you have to do the work, and sometimes the compassion is so warm and fuzzy that you won’t get anything done. That’s not helpful, not truly.

So my advice, as it were, to the kind PhD student who wrote me out of the blue: I’ve found that one of the best ways to feel better about myself and what I’m doing in the academy is simply to kick myself in the pants and get good work done. It’s an awful lot easier to feel good about yourself when you have something tangible to look at. Consider the beauty of a perfect paragraph – one that you really can’t improve upon! – and then compare it to the terror of a blank page.

So if you can master the trick of coping with your existential doubt by throwing yourself into some productive work, then you’ve really got a good thing going. Maybe you won’t resolve your internal crises, but at least you’ll have accomplished some good along the way.