How to Make Love (for your subject) Last

There comes a time when the attractions of your subject start to wane. Cynicism and negativity set in. Those review papers seem to repeat old themes. The conferences that had once appeared so fresh and inviting have become obligations. The keynote speakers are dull, the journals uninspiring. It appears that, after all, your love is not forever. Do not worry, profserious has advice.

You can regain that love, you can look again at your subject as you did in the now distant days of your youth.

Rekindle the passion. Remember what first caught your imagination, those early days of romance. Hold them in your mind. Is the problem still as important? Are the challenges still there? Reengage your intellect and refind your desire.  

Time together. Perhaps you and your subject need time away together. This may be the time for that sabbatical you always promised to have but never quite made time for. Maybe even a few quality hours or a lost weekend of reading and writing is what is wanted. 

Time apart. Time together may not be what is wanted. It is possible you need time apart. Have you thought about being unfaithful? How about a surreptitious visit to a conference in another field? You could read a journal from that field too, discretely of course. Nothing will be more likely to allow you look at your old love with more knowing eyes. 

Change it up. Are you tired of the same old positions and the same old discussions. If so, you need to change it up. Espouse a radical new position or shift to a different part of the research space. Live dangerously and capture the excitement. 

Let it go. Are you angry, finding it difficult to put an old quarrel behind you? Is it difficult to forget that rejected paper, the small humiliations of the programme committee you are never invited to join? Forgiveness is important in a relationship, you need to let it go. 

Buy stuff. Nothing refreshes a relationship like new equipment. Buy a bigger, faster computer. A large and costly piece of lab kit is sure to put that sparkle back in your relationship with your subject. It is obviously important that this kit is dramatically more expensive and complex than that posessed by others in your field. They are sure to be impressed and publish your papers. 

Trade in. Sometimes there is nothing to be done about your relationship with your subject, it is beyond revival. You need a new and fresher subject. Ideally something with buzzwords that gets featured on the cover of Wired. Your old subject with all its tiresome demands for verification and data should be put behind you. Step out boldly, wear the T-shirt and do not look back.

I trust this advice is useful, after all if you take advice on love from some guy on the internet what could possibly go wrong?