They're calling it a breakthrough. Twenty years of staring at spectral data, and we finally identified that mysterious iron sulfate signature from Mars orbit. I should feel something. Pride, maybe. Validation. Instead, I'm sitting in my office at 11 PM, wondering if this is what success looks like—a paragraph in Nature Communications and the crushing realization that it still won't be enough for tenure. The mineral might be new to science, but we have to find it on Earth first for official recognition. Always another hoop. Always another 'but.' My advisor texted congratulations with three exclamation points. I stared at it for five minutes and felt nothing. Mars was chemically active 3 billion years ago. I've been chemically depleted for the last three years. The irony isn't lost on me. 📉 At least the Red Planet has an excuse. #Science #LabBurnout #AcademicLife