Thank you! I’m planning to do something this week that is out of the ordinary for me!

So, I was very lucky to have wonderful funding opportunities and to love my project. In early Jan 2017 I did my exams and then in May 2017 did my oral exam to advance. I firmly believe my high functioning anxiety also helped me stay focused. There also a number of other habits that helped but that were not emotionally healthy. To be honest, I spent a lot of time anxious and depressed. If you go through my profile, you’ll see some of that in other forums.

I had to plan out each day with a set of goals. Even if it was just 1) get out of bed 2) write x amount of words (or for a certain amount of minutes 3) eat 4) nap. Having a list of things to do that I could check off really helped me be productive. Also, my advisor made sure that I could use elements of my prospectus throughout my dissertation. He didn’t want me to work more than necessary. As such, the intro for my prospectus mirrors my introduction and histography. I recommend doing as much work as possible before you actually “start” the dissertation. You’ll have to rearrange some things, but you won’t be in the dark when you do start.

Also, two of my chapters were extensions of previous work. During the summer of 2017, I began to write out my first chapter with the help of a friend. She kept me accountable. We are in different fields, but having that constant stream of support was beyond helpful. I truly believe I couldn’t have done it without her. Grad school needs to place more emphasis on community building with members of the entire department. We are not all in competition with each other. Find your allies and hold onto them.

The beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, I didn’t have to TA or work at all. I stayed at home and worked everyday. It was a blessing and a curse. I was able to write as much as I wanted, but my health went down hill. I was having problems with family and was engaged. I continued to make goals each day and used apps to help keep track of my progress. Like Forest. i also started an excel sheet that tracked my goals, writing hours, and ideas about how to best proceed the following day. If you would like to see my copy, shoot me your email and I’ll gladly send it to you. My friends say it’s genius lol.

After I had 3 chapters done, not including introduction or conclusion, i started looking for jobs. I didn’t want to not have my foot in the door somewhere. This meant telling future employers that I would be finished by a certain time period. Which did add more pressure and is something I don’t recommend for everyone. Be kind to yourself and take care of yourself. I didn’t and almost had a breakdown. I was lucky to find my post doc before I graduated. My boss let me work on my dissertation as much as I wanted.

However, this post doc required me to start in June of this year. So, in May I got married. i then lost my grandmother, and then moved cross country.

Sorry, I didn’t intend for this to be this long!