referee refuses to write more LORs

so one of my three referees (an important one) has refused to submit more reference letters. i asked him for eight, and i have a few more to go. so far the ones he’s sent are the ones for US unis, and i’m yet to apply to Europe programs i have shortlisted. i understand that referees esp current professors are busy and have lives of their own, but somehow this feels like a gut punch? like our futures depend on a tiny bit of their efforts (this one’s basically copy pasting the letters) and i don’t mean to downplay the effort even if its copy-pasting, but the academic scene is horrible at the moment, and to keep my chances solid i’m trying to apply to as many places as i possibly can to meet with the impending rejections that are soon to be on their way. acceptances rates are at a historic low, and on top of the anxieties of the application process, i’m now sitting and writing about the anxiety of being one referee short.

(this one was my MA thesis advisor (one of them) and we always got along well, he’s been incredibly supportive too, so maybe that adds to feeling let down)

sux sux sux.