News: phd
10-minute brain break
Now that winter is here I’ve noticed that I’ve been spending the great majority of all the days of the weeks this month, sitting down. It’s getting cold and instead of sitting down at a park with my laptop to work on my thesis, I’ve just been working at my desk, in the warm comfort of the indoors.
On missing out
I was really looking forward to this night out with friends and so of course, of all weekends to catch a cold and be sick, it had to be this weekend. I felt devastated and I honestly felt like the universe was cruel for letting this happen to me on this weekend. I felt so mad – after working relentlessly for months, in near solitary confinement conditions, it had to be this weekend that I’m sick. I felt bad, I felt angry, I felt entitled.
Weekends off
As an HDR student, sometimes it’s hard to put boundaries around your time. Typically, you won’t have to attend any regular classes or seminars and for the most part, you are in control of how you spend your time during the day. Most times you can work from anywhere, or if your research is tied to a laboratory, usually you would have access 24/7. It’s not unusual to let research work and writing spill over to the weekend. This leads us to a high risk of burning out.
The light we carry: book reflection
Whether you like the Obamas or not, I found I had a lot of helpful things to take away from Michelle Obama’s recent book, The Light We Carry. I guess they are crafted as life lessons, but they may as well be a toolkit we HDR students can use on our journey towards the degree. Here are some of the things I learned that I find useful as an HDR student.
Harnessing confidence for the thesis
I’m in the countdown phase now – not quite close enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the adrenaline is certainly pumping, and the fear and unease is palpable. This has to be over soon. I’ve finished all the empirical studies and now it’s tying it all together into the thesis.
Creativity
I remember being about eight or nine years old and dreaming of being a writer and a poet. I'd create these poems and submit them to the children's section of our local paper. My mom would tell me that I would have notebooks upon notebooks filled with poems, short stories, and ideas for novels. Thinking back, I think I can even recall where in my room I kept all these notebooks. My parents would keep the clippings of written work that would be published in the ‘kids’ section, which I assure you were not particularly brilliant, but they were all unfettered and unbound creative work. Looking back now, I can’t help but feel a bit jealous of my childhood self, thinking about how easily all the words and ideas flowed out from my mind onto the very many pages.
Laughter, song, and dance
This week’s challenge was to ‘let go of being cool and always in control’ and the first thought that came to mind was one of the Friends episodes - The One With the Routine (Season 6 Episode 10). Yes I’m a 90s kid, but I don’t know what possessed my friends and me from trying to recreate The Routine - we even recorded it! It was meant to be a quiet girls’ night in, spent in our pyjamas as we shared a gorgeous grazing table and watched episode after episode of Friends. Recreating a goofy dance routine wasn’t part of the plan!
