I recently had the privilege of being funded to travel overseas (UK to Australia) to visit a leading academic in my field. I am sharing my experience with you because I am an internally presenting autistic woman (the kind often subjected to the “but you don’t seem autistic” comments). Perhaps because of how I appear, it might be assumed that travelling across continents to a completely new environment, solo, would be no less challenging for me than for a neurotypical person. Autism is not a mental illness, but I experience generalised anxiety in response to trying to fit into a hectic, unpredictable world, which is incompatible with my brain.
Read More »Month: July 2025
Bouncing Back: Coping Effectively with Academic Setbacks by Vineet Arora
I remember the first time a journal editor rejected my article. I sat staring at the email, feeling like someone had just deflated my academic “balloon”. I had poured my heart and soul into that manuscript, and here it was, marked with a big red “no.” It felt like being in school all over again, where the teacher hands back your paper covered in corrections.
During my time as a sessional academic working in higher education, I have experienced many more rejections. While many of these have been challenging and disappointing, I have reached a point where I accept them and try to learn from the experiences. As I explain in this blog, I believe that developing my psychological resources and utilizing coping strategies has enabled me to handle these rejections constructively. In the next sections, I discuss how my self-efficacy as well as resilience, courage, and spirituality have helped me on my journey. I also share the importance of maintaining my wellbeing during stressful times and learning from my supervisors to help me cope with rejections.
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Voices of Academia 