Thoughts From 3 Years In: When the PhD Gets Tough
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- Опубліковано 31 лип 2024
- Hey kids, who knew sleeping enough and taking time off was important for your mental health? Not me last term, and this is a video about how I am an idiot, yet emerged, enlightened, and with a fringe.
Previous milestone videos:
2 years in: • Thoughts from 2 Years ...
1 year in: • 12 Months In: What I W...
Mental health playlist, because mental health is no joke and please look after yourself: • Mental Health
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Get in touch!
Twitter: @LeKissick
Website: lucykissick.co.uk
Email: lucykissick.co.uk/contact
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Credits music by the ever-talented post-rockers Silent Island!
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My name is Lucy Kissick, I’m a fourth and final year PhD student in Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, and first thing on my post-PhD to do list is to play all the Playstation 1 Spyro games again.
You are completely echoing where I am. I'm 4th year PhD. For 2 months, Oct-Nov I worked 12 hr days, 7 days a week, sat at a desk, not exercising, not eating right and I burned out. Dec and Jan, involved me rejigging my whole routine, eating healthily and exercising. I'm not ploughing through the work at the same rate as before but I'm still progressing without sacrificing my health. I'm so pleased to see that I am not alone in this experience, thank you :-)
By now you must have finished already. I hope all ended well for you.
I feel you so much. I have been in a 3-year PhD for 4 years and 4 months. I got extended my deadlines many times. However, I will finally submit the thesis about 9 days from now and the nightmare will be over forever.
I also had load neighbours throughout my all PhD. this distracted me a lot and made me always angry, especially when one of these loud neighbours is your mom. I thought I was crazy because I could not hear people, but knowing that you had the same problem makes me feel that it is a common trait among PhD students.
My mom had a lot of fun having parties with her friends for at least 2-3 hours per day and she did not care about my essential need for silence, and she actually thinks I am crazy because I get mad easily from hearing a little talking. To stay away from my mom and her friends, I have been studying in the garage that we have a little away from the house where we live. In the garage, there is not even a toilet and I have peed in the bottles xD. Even if the garage did not solve the problem completely, it helped me a lot, by reducing the likelihood of being in a loud environment
Other things I have useful to fight loud people were ear plugs, and over-ear headphones. Also, playing either brown, pink or white noise or playing a constant sound help cover the people's talking.
I am a third year PhD student. I have been stuck in the burnt-out phase for the past year, literally.. non stop work, no sleep.. my thesis is due this month, my scholarship is finishing next month, so I am literally just trying to get it all over with so that I can go recover. I hope my sanity can hold a little longer
we are on the same page in work as well as our surroundings are also same. really I can relate to you, now I'm interpreting the data and writing my thesis. it's so hard mentally and physically. sometimes I will go out with my friends to take some rest. you should try that. all the best Lusy for your work as well as life. many people do tell "PhD IS NOT LIFE, LIFE IS MUCH MORE THAN THAT" but in reality, it is very difficult to accept.
I'm glad you are healthier mentally now! The last month of my masters I felt like drowning.
By the way, I was wondering if you could make a video about teaching/lecturing advice whenever you have time.
Hi Lucy nice to meet you. I have subscribed to your channel and will recommend that my students watch it to get an idea of what going through a Ph.D program is like. The day of my defense which was April Fool's Day in 1998 was one of the best days of my life because it was such a relief to be done with the stress of the defense. I actually really enjoyed it which was something I was surprised about because I really just wanted to get through it. Anyway getting a Ph.D is unlike any other experience in the world and I don't think people who aren't in a program truly understand how stressful, exhausting, and burned out one gets when trying to go through such an incredible Endeavor. It's an academic Mount Everest to be sure and I don't really think there's any other way to describe it but you're free to try. I certainly enjoy listening to what you have to say. You will get through this and I'm glad that you're putting this down on video so people can see and I applaud that very much. Whatever the day of your defense is in your future the following year you should celebrate that day as your doctor birthday. Every year on April Fool's Day I celebrate that day because it marked such a momentous and massive portion of my life devoted to a singular task that took all of my strength, stamina, and devotion. Congratulations on your success and know that there are others that understand and applaud what you're doing. If it was easy everyone would do it. Only 1% get a doctorate and we know why. It takes a tenacity and level of devotion that is extreme. When you finish you will look back astonished by what you accomplished in such a pressure cooker kind of environment. Hang in there! There is light on the other side and a whole life after you finish. It will be 22 years for me this year and I'm so grateful I saw it through. I'm a teaching professor and fiction author now. You've got this!!
I'm also in 4th year of my Ph.D. and I think nothing can be more horrible than PhD supervisor
Hi Lucy!
That is exactly the way that I have been feeling for the last months. I had to find it out the hard way to stop, lucky me that I learned it early on my programe. Best wishes with your mental health! 😁
thank you for your honesty! I hope it will get better from now on ☺️. It’s so important to take care of our mental health!
Yay! Missed your videos!! Glad you've had a rest, and I'm in the same boat now 😭
You're amazing Lucy! Keep up the good work!
Glad to see you're doing better, good to have you back!
I think the last six months are the worst for everyone. But, if you "survive" nothing will be impossible !! It is part of the process. Good luck !
Thanks for the encouragement Lucy, I like your channel that you don't just share your successes, but your mistakes as well. You know that is so much more encouraging than the success stories. It makes me think that hey, I'm not the only one fumbling around in the dark... and PhD is not just for those people who have it all together. I am just starting my first year, working on my proposal. I was so discouraged with imposter syndrome, I felt like giving up. But your vidoes have helped me alot. So you're doing a great job. Because of you, so many more people will finish their PhD studies. Keep it up... By the way, you have the most amazing eyes.
Good to see you back. I follow you because I am a Dmin student and share in some of the pain.
thanks Lucy. you might not have many viewers, but each of your videos are helpping us, the Phd students, a lot.
I'm glad that I found your channel
I am on my last year of PhD and you are helping me a lot!! Thanks! Wish you all the luck!
I finished writting my thesis sitting in the grass in my parents' garden and it was the best decision ever !
Keep taking care of yourself and remember, our worth is not defined by the number of experiments we make, the number of hours we work or the number of pages we write !
Thanks to Starbucks!
I had written my PhD dissertation on their chairs!!
I am so glad you are feeling much better. I hope that the writing up goes quickly and enjoyable, as a PhD write up can be. Really interested in how you approached your supervisor to ask for a month off so you could go home. I would love to do this during my final year. Missed your videos!!
We missed you, I finished 4th year in russel group uni and went through what you had too. And did what you did went back home to write my thesis. I sought help as I lost sleep and had anxiety. Now I am feeling better and ready to submit my thesis next month
Thank you for this video
I start feeling what you have
Hi Lucy it really isn't patronisingly obvious as the optimists among us never consider issues like noisy neighbours will continue for more than the odd night here and there, but in reality some people are so selfish and hedonistic they don't care even when things are brought to their attention. If you are in stud digs you should have complained and got them out to be honest. I've had noisy neighbours in the past and in the end you can't just not sleep when the noise happens, but in anticipation of it happening and what's even worse you dread going home. I unfortunately owned the property but sold it in January and it is now bliss as people around me are normal and friendly. Don't let bullies destroy your life and it is easy to move on or escape but really they need dealing with as it is antisocial. Furthermore, sleep regulates hormones and brain functioning so for academics like us sleep is vital as every day counts. love your vids x
Now I am in my final year of Masters .
I wanna do P.hD next year .
But kind of sacred and confused wheather I can cope with all the pressure or not
About the ear defenders. Does anybody know a model that blocks speech? As in people talking next to you as you are trying to work. The logic that if it blocks jackhammer noise it'll certainly block speech doesn't work, so please respond only if you have personally tried ear defenders that block speech. Thank you.
I am in that same situation
I guess this Phd will kill me.
You should just become a model
Damn! you really look like being on the verge of crying.... :-(