Busy Is Not The Same As Living

You can spend years building something impressive and still wonder if it's what you actually wanted.Izzy Di Domenico is a lecturer, unit chair, and nine-year Deakin veteran whose path ran through a PhD and a stint inside elite AFL.We talk about what academic life actually involves once you're in it, the identity shift a PhD quietly produces, and what it's like to step into leadership while still wondering if you really know what you're doing. We also get into AI in education — whether it's a useful tool or a crutch that stops students learning to think — and why universities are struggling to respond coherently.Underneath all of it: the pressure of your 20s and 30s to keep moving, the trap of saying yes to everything, and the slow realisation that busy isn't the same as living.If this one sounds familiar, send it to someone in their early career.