My SO is in my country for work for a few days, but my country is big and for a variety of reasons we couldn't work it so that he could visit while he's here.
Knowing that he's only about 1,500 miles away instead of the usual 9,500 is killing me. I keep thinking about how close he is, a few hours' flight away. Sigh.
I guess he's told that it's better to have more apps out there, provided he fits the qualifications basically to a T and that he has the time to dedicate to making sure the app is complete and really good.
Honestly, I think he's over-committing himself a bit, because he's also trying to publish. I know there are a few assistant prof apps he wants to do and in theory it seems like they shouldn't take a ton of time, but to my understanding, professor applications aren't quite as quick as other industries. Specific requirements from the school, lots of tailoring it.
So it probably wouldn't be the worst plan if he focused more on just the post-doc applications and the publishing. (In addition to his current teaching contract.) But he feels strongly about applying for everything he's qualified for and thinks he at least has a shot at. I do think it's stressing him out a lot, though, and he's definitely one of those academics who struggles with depression.
Are you in academia as well?
In any case, I know he definitely is applying to post-docs, so *crossing fingers* that he gets one of those soon. He's kinda stressing a bit about his current contract ending soon and not having a something lined up, though he's aware that for a lot of people there's often a gap. So I think he's just anxious about his backup plans for how to support himself in the interim, if there's a long gap. I mean, he'd be working on publishing, of course, but would still probably need at least some money coming in. (I think his parents would likely help out a little bit, though.)
Academia is such an insane sphere.