In this episode of In The Know: Walks of Life, a 23-year-old woman shares how she quit her intense job at a lab to explore the world while living out of her car. Still interested in working in the science field, she’s using her time on the road to obtain a better work-life balance and grow comfortable with herself.

The subject has been traveling a lot recently, while living out of her car, but has recently returned to her hometown because she ran out of funds and is planning on sticking around a bit while working a waitressing job. 

“I wanted to take a breather and have a shower,” she says. “Just to take a breather from the car life because it is just more effort to do anything when you’re living out of your car.” 

The woman, who is a research scientist, is in a bit of an “explorative phase,” but is planning on returning to the world of academia after her travels. “I love science, it’s really special for me,” she says. “I know science is going to be home for the rest of my life.” 

Always a diligent student, the subject was accepted to a competitive research program in college, and spent most of school putting in late nights at the lab. “I liked it that way, I liked being able to really give myself to my craft,” the subject admits. 

But when the pandemic hit, the subject decided she didn’t connect with remote style learning and decided to take her next steps. 

“I graduated early and then got hired on as a lab manager and research scientist, kind of a combo position,” she says. “And that’s kind of where I first realized the problems in science.” The subject clarifies that the problems she realized weren’t about science itself, but rather about the lack of work-life balance in the science industry. 

“You were expected to give up your social life,” she recalls. “Really anything you needed, you were expected to give up.” The lack of work-life balance became overwhelming for the subject, and she noticed herself starting to become depressed. To blow off some steam, she decided to take a solo camping trip, during which she took mushrooms and had an epiphany regarding her career. 

“I call myself a scientist and scientists are supposed to be curious people,” the subject explains. “Why would I take my young life and sign it away so early to this one project?” 

As she was driving home, the woman started to form a plan on how she could quit her job, and what her next steps would be if she did. She figured she could afford quitting if she didn’t have to pay rent, and started to piece together how she would live in her car. “These are all ideas I came up with, researched, and more or less ended up doing,” she says. 

The subject returned to work, but after a bad experience during a presentation, she decided enough was enough and she quit the next day. 

“The most courageous thing that I’ve ever done was take a break,” she says. “Everything that I’ve learned from my time in academia tells me that taking a break is like career suicide.” 

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For the subject, time on the road has provided the space she needed to learn how to truly be with herself and her own thoughts. As a naturally extroverted person, the subject had long relied on others to fill her space, both physically and mentally. 

“I’m learning what my physiological and physical routines are going to be so that I can maintain them once I’m in a situation where I don’t have as much free time,” explains the subject. 

The subject knows that if she plans on going back to working in science, she’ll need to prioritize her own wellbeing over anything. “People are unhappy when they don’t know the full extent of their psychological and physical needs and how to meet them,” she says. “If I don’t have all those bases covered, I won’t be able to meet all those grand aspirations that I have.” 

Looking back, the subject is grateful that she took the leap and quit her job, and is thankful that she’s had the time on the road to challenge her and help her grow. “Sure, it was scary in the beginning,” she begins. “But now I can’t imagine where I’d be if I hadn’t.” 

“In The Know: Walks of Life” is available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Stitcher.

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