To do research?

I'm trying to pinpoint why I'm getting that little-bit-of-a-freaking-out feeling when again another professor has agreed to take me on to do research. Here's an attempt to understand:

Fears

-pidgeonholing

-time commitment

-> missing out on other opportunities

-> wasting time

-messing up

Attractions

-opportunity to do some legitimate work

-interesting research area

-good prof + postdoc

-learning about something that could be useful/applicable to other things I'm interested in

-getting involved with FSE

Doubts

-is this exactly what I want to do?

-how 'valuable' is it really to do research?

-how applicable / how much does this stuff really matter?

-boring

I guess if you sell your soul... this is where it can get you to. $322 round-trip flight SFO-JFK the day before you're flying out.

Okay maybe I exaggerate when I say "sell your soul" -- but if you drop all the really scary, more religious connotations of that, you can just think of it as "quashing your spirit" (quashing can be thought of as neglecting, sidestepping, ignoring).