Hello DocInsanity and Thestinkyfox and thanks for your replies.

Good morning all,

How are you Eska :)?. Today, I have to read 26 cases, and my brother in law is coming today so I have to cook some delicious food without garlic. I want to have my breakfast now and then directly to my study.

Have a great productive day!

Good morning Emaa, I had a very bad tummy on Tuesday and travelled to my uni yesterday, so that took all my time - I hope you had a good day! And I hope you have a good day today too.

I am getting a bit fed up of the whole PhD thing now, my crcumstances, being a student etcetera, I really want to start moving on and wrapping up the thesis. So I have to get cracking. This morining I am going to continue the re-drafting I was doing earlier this week and then go into the library later on.

Hope to hear from you later.

I think getting fed up of being a PhD student and wanting to move on is excellent motivation for getting the thesis finished! I'm feeling exactly the same way.

I don't like the new form of the forum :). It's 4 am and I cannot sleep yet. Today, I received my supervisor's feedback on an important part of my thesis. She described it as very good, very thorough and well researched and gave me few comments. But I'm not happy. I don't know why. Do I become a negative person? Or maybe I feel more responsibility?

That is the big problem with studying at home, isn't it - noise during the day. And when I'm doing things that require a lot of concentration, like reading cases, I find even a small amount of noise very distracting.
I had a day on campus yesterday, so got a fair bit done.

Good morning all, how are you doing these days??

Hi Emaa, just found this thread! You sound EXACTLY the same as me. I am 3 hours drive away from uni and am working from home alone. My partner goes to work at 7am every morning so I get up then, but stay in my pyjamas usually for a few hours. I am finding it very hard to structure my day and actually motivate myself to do work, doing at most 3-4hrs studying a day. I get so distracted by things around the house. The same as you I have a study room, but feel depressed when I am in there so tend not to work in there! There are no libraries nearby to me either, I live in the countryside. How are you getting on? Do you have any tips for coping and have you noticed an improvement in your studying since these posts? I have only started my PhD in mid-October 2012 so am in different stage to you, but your problems sound so much like mine!

Hi there!
Nice to hear that people are in a similar situation as I am. I am starting the second year of my PhD (field ecology) I am remotely located in a small town (3000 people) several hours (a flight) away from advisors and my university. Its very isolating, and depressing and extremely challenging to be working at home alone. In the first year I was in the field almost all the time, now I am trying to focus more on reading/looking at the data while concurrently getting assistance in the field. Its very difficult being remotely located and not having anyone around to bounce my ideas off and working from home is not good for my motivation or focus. I have contacted a local office where I go and sit and work when desk space is available. This has been REALLY helpful. I find I work better on these days. Its not ideal because there isnt always space for me, but for now its something. Is nice to be in a work atmosphere. Perhaps you could try that as well? I know personally I need that enviroment to feel more focused. If anyone has any other ideas let me know!

When I started my PhD I thought I would have to be there every day.....well I'm there once or twice a week and when at home I stay in bed a lot. I really miss the structure of proper employment. If you're inclined to be a lazy person (like me) then a PhD will bring the worst out in you lol! Having said that, it's also very isolating and depressing. I had depression most of last year and staying at home by mysef only made things worse, but it's a hard thing to kick. On a good note, I really enjoy my afternoon naps :)))

Hello all, It seems so many people here are in the same situation like me. I'm still working at home I cannot do any real changes in my routine. The last time I sent a chapter to my supervisor was 5 month ago :(. Since then, we lost my father in law so I had to travel to our home city for two weeks then my mother in law came to visit us for a week. I couldn't do anything during those three weeks. Then I found that I'm pregnant with a twin, boy and girl :) I'm in the third month now. It is so nice But I have only 10 month to finish my thesis. However, I'm finishing the last two chapters these days. They are more than 100 pages and I need almost 3 weeks to finish them. Then, I will reread all the thesis and make the required amendments, it would take almost 3 months. I really have a lot of things to do in the coming months :(.

Oh wow, congratulations emaa! I have decided as of yesterday to sack it in and quit. It is just not for me, I do not have any motivation or interest in it which is essential to succeed, and all I can think about is that I wish I was working and not putting my life on hold (I am getting married soon and want to start a family). At least you have motivation and an end date to do your thesis in :) And then you can relax with your new family. How exciting! I am worried about telling my supervisor so have written him a long letter and am going to email it in a few days once I have thought about it some more. No idea what my parents are going to say. But m partner is very supportive of my decision which hopefully will make it easier :)

Hello crelansley, thank you so much for your reply and Congratulations for your marriage, it is very nice to have your own family. I'm sorry for your decision but I can understand it. Two hours ago, I told my husband that it was a stupid decision to start a PhD in the first year of our marriage. It was totally a new life and I had to left my country and move with my husband to another country where I don't know any body or even know the language. And the first few years of the marriage are not easy at all. A lot of new responsibilities.... wish you a great life and good luck.

Hi Emaa and others.

Sorry to hear about your decision, Crelansley. I remember reading about your problem and I did reply to it. I hope you will find a better career option. As for me, I have about 7 months to go before I wrap things up. I am trying to juggle family and Phd work (as usual), and as it's the Easter break, I am not doing anything productive at the moment ! I will try to disappear to the public library tomorrow to get some writing done.