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======= Date Modified 22 Oct 2008 12:57:29 =======
I don't think it's a very good idea to compare yourself with old schoolfriends, unless it produces ideas to actually act on something and change it in the future. There's no point, because you can't get the time back and do things differently. I'd agree with Smilodon about not calling it a sacrifice - presumably you've made choices to stay in education because you enjoy it, or at least did at the time you made those decisions. If it seems like a sacrifice to you now, maybe it's time for a change?

Maybe your priorities in life are shifting at the moment, but it's not surprising if you're coming to the end of a PhD, but it's no bad thing to question what you're doing with your life. If you want to do other stuff after your PhD, then why not? You're very young still, to me too! Apart from having children, you can do the other things at any time of your life - my dad got married again in his 50s, and he still travels a lot and he's retired now. I just don't think it's good to regret what you've done, because unless it makes you pursue a different set of things that will make you happier in the near future, you'll just get miserable.

I know it's a cliche but life really is so precious, you never know what's round the corner, good or bad, so all you can do is make the best choices for yourself at that point in time, and try to enjoy whatever you decide to do while you're doing it. If you make the odd slightly crappy decision in the long run, well, you are human (!!) so you can do it differently next time around.

hoot

Thanks Smilodon and Tsipat, I'm glad it's not just me! As long as this thing gets done and I don't lose the plot in the process, I think I'll be grateful for that at the moment.

boon

Thanks :-)

I've missed this game!

I was going to leave writing papers for publication until afterwards as well, also hopefully have a rest and get some teaching, preferably in different unis for a bit more experience. I've been starting to worry about it recently, as I dropped out of all my teaching this year to get the thing finished and being 'invisible' for a year seems a bit dodgy in the current economic climate, as it's very competitive in my area. I've never been the world's best 'networker' either. Someone told me it takes about a year to get some decent publications in the pipeline and sort yourself out after completion, so maybe it's best to stay in my current p/t job and see how it goes.

moot

Olivia, if you've got a moment, maybe you could put some blurb on the thread header about how the game works, for new people....?

@ Sandy2008 - isn't your answer straight from wikipedia...?

Hello all,

I'm writing up and submitting in the spring. I wondered whether others at the same stage were thinking ahead, to try to ensure something positive happens after completion. However, I know completing a PhD isn't automatically a magic ticket to an exciting new working life - I've seen people unemployed and very depressed afterwards, or go off travelling to purge their minds of the whole thing until they can think clearly again.

I'm intending to stay in academia, and have realised I should probably start thinking about the next academic year. I've been noticing internal funding calls recently, as well as calls for papers at conferences next autumn I *should* go to, though the idea isn't very tempting at the moment. Hibernating with my thesis for months is obviously helping to get it done and I really don't want to divert myself from that, but it's not helping to increase my chances of interesting future work. Otherwise, the worst case scenario for 2009/10 is that things are exactly the same as now, apart from I'll hopefully be Dr so and so, with a lot more spare time on my hands.

I wondered what other people in this situation are doing? Are you actively looking at funding for other projects, job applications etc? Or will that wait until you've at least submitted? What is the experience of post-docs - are there things you wish you'd done differently, or did everything work out fine, and if it did, do you have any suggestions about what one should be doing at this stage? Any advice would be very welcome!

Hi Lara, sounds like you're whizzing ahead today, good stuff! (up)

I'll probably sound a bit moany but I've had a tediously slow day again, same old chapter 5 :-s it's driving me mad, some things I know I have to explain better and I'm spending ages on as my second supervisor said they were interesting and I should expand, other bits need loads of supporting evidence from really old fieldnotes that it's taking ages to look up. It's taking so long to restructure it properly, nothing seems to work as well as I'd like it to... :-s Also I realised with horror that a bit chunk of text had disappeared, so I guess I'd got a bit sloppy with moving sections around the other day. It frightened me into realising it's not good to do certain things if you're not feeling well (unless you're desperate!) I got it back from an old backup and spent the rest of the day doing the images - much safer! I'm going to carry on with that stuff till nine, then watch British Style Genius! It's a good series :-x

I've got a long day at work tomorrow, so I'll wish you luck with your night shift and logoff now, to do a bit more myself!! :-) (up)

gaunt

lout

pout

taint