Why I Share My Failures

If you look at most academic websites—including the one you’re on right now—you usually see a carefully curated list of wins. Papers accepted, awards won, internships secured. It creates a “highlight reel” effect [1] that suggests a linear, upward trajectory of success.

But that’s NOT how research (or life) actually works. It’s really messy out there!!

Behind every paper, awards, success, there are rejected submissions, dead ends, long no-ops. And outside of work, life happens—accidents, personal struggles, and events that derail our productivity but can also define our resilience.

I’ve decided to add the “Unfiltered” mode to my updates section. It’s a small experiment in honesty. When you toggle it, instead of the carefully curated Ayes, you’ll see the Nays happening in between.

Why? We often feel isolated in our struggles because everyone else’s public persona looks so perfect. By sharing the not-so-rosy updates, I hope to offer a more human picture of what this journey actually looks like.

Sometimes, I run the risk of revealing a bit too much, but the importance of keeping our collective mental health intact outweighs the small risk, at least for now.

[1] Hanna, E., Ward, L. M., Seabrook, R. C., Jerald, M., Reed, L., Giaccardi, S., & Lippman, J. R. (2017). Contributions of social comparison and self-objectification in mediating associations between Facebook use and emergent adults’ psychological well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(3), 172-179.