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