Being a Unicorn
Unicorn: someone who excels in the lab, but has a full life outside of science (their work discipline) and is also a nice person.
In my first year of my PhD, an acquaintance who was a second year student commented that I am a unicorn. I denied it pretty much immediately.
When people learn you're doing a PhD, they often comment on how amazing that is and how high-achieving you are. Add on top of that the multiple hobbies I refused to let go of, and I can see why my fellow student said what he said. I was flattered, but denied it, not being sure how true that was. But, over the coming years, I learned a lot about how hard I'd push myself to maintain myself as a human being outside of the lab and how difficult that can actually be - both mentally and physically - to hit the right balance.
Grad school, like many things, is a push and pull. I've realized now that I unknowingly tried my hardest to embrace and maintain my "unicorn" status, with varying degrees of success and failure at different points. It wasn't ever really about being the unicorn in other people's eyes, so much as trying to stay true to myself and what I wanted to spend my time doing. Beyond anything else, that's what kept me going. It's hard, but not impossible to keep your sense of self even as the PhD wears you down in every way.