How likely are you to be stressed in academia? So a little context. I'm a second year masters student in theoretical physics and last year I almost had a burnout. I mean that I had symptoms of burnout but it was not severe enough to be an actual burnout (luckily). What stressed me out most was the frequent deadlines. The material also got harder compared to my bachelor which contributed as well. After taking it easy for a while now and talking to a psychologist to help cope with stress I'm feeling much better. I would rather not have this experience another time or even worse. So, since a lot of theoretical physicists go into academia my question is how likely are you to be stressed in academia? Or more specifically

How likely are you to be stressed in academia? Do you know examples of people who are very stressed/not stressed at all?
If it is stressful, is it possible to reduce your workload? Or is it possible to manage this stress?
A majority of the expectations tend to be self-imposed.

While there are some things you're made to do by others, most deadlines etc come from your own choices. Do you agree to referee that paper? Do you want to submit to that conference? Do you agree to give that talk?

There is no &quot;having done enough&quot;.

There is always something more that you could do. There will be almost certainly peers who get much, much more done than you (or at least appear to do). Research is never finished. The academic job market is very tight, so until you have tenure, there is always this question of &quot;could doing this extra thing be the decisive factor in whether or not I get a job&quot;?

Deadlines tend to be on a medium time scale.

Unless you are eg a postdoc with a micromanaging team lead, you will be rather flexible in the short term. Teaching aside, things are of the &quot;do this this week/month&quot;, nor &quot;this day&quot;.

There does seem to be a widespread culture of celebrating stress.

While relaxed academics exist, in my experience most academics tend to convey an aura of constant low-level stress. Of those, many seem to enjoy this. Admitting to be overwhelmed is very much acceptable, but I suspect that the stress can be infectious for some people.