During November of 2023, I got a concussion which then led to me getting a brain bleed. As I have a history of neurological issues, this exacerbated them, and I was unable to participate in academics at all. I initially took incompletes in my courses, but later had then retroactively withdrawn due to medical reasons. I'll be returning to classes during the Spring 2025 semester (January 2025), but I never told my PI anything about the situation. Immediately after the concussion and brain bleed, I wasn't really in a position to think about this, but now that it's begun resolving itself, I'm worried about how to approach this. It would appear to my PI that I just stopped attending the lab and dropped off the face of the earth. Although I don't want to continue research in their lab due to my interests changing, I would like to pursue research in a different at the institute they are based in, which shares the same building and generally the same facilities. I don't know how to tell them about the situation and apologize for seemingly dropping off the map, while simultaneously leaving the lab in a graceful manner after the support they gave me.

During the time I was away, I had a lot of time to think, and I realized that while I recognize that their research is important, it just didn't resonate with me, and I simply didn't find it that interesting. I wasn't really enthusiastic about the research and it was moreso just something that was doing. It's unfair to myself and the PI if I'm not going to give 100% of my effort to the projects that I'm assigned, which has led me to the decision to leave. I just simply don't know how to approach this is a graceful and tactful manner.

Does anyone have advice for this? Please help me :(