Hi everyone,
I'm almost 1.5yrs into phd and I feel like I've barely gotten any data. After working on my initial project for 10-11 mths I realized that this project is highly unlikely to bear any fruit. I decided to shift focus on my 2nd project. It's been 3mths since I focused intensely on this new project and although I felt there were some progress it is moving very slowly. My preliminary data is not solid as I have yet to reproduce the data consistently.

I started having constant stress for the past few months and talking to my lab members and parents made me feel better for awhil but the stress never completely go away.. Whenever my experiment fail I go into another emotional slump. I feel very shitty, very incompetent. I don't sleep well too. Having nightmares about not graduating.
I feel like talking to my supervisor about the stress and fear of not being able to graduate but I'm not close to my supervisor and don't know what she will think of me instead.

I don't know if I'm being over anxious and over reacting to my current situation?
I want to hope that things will get better in the next few years but I'm overwhelmed with the idea of not being able to graduate.
Are there people who feel the same way? I'm scared.

Hi, a0042498,

I have been through your path before. Had to majorly change my PhD direction after 2 years. I only made progress in my fourth year, but I graduated. So, it can be done.

For the constant stress and fear, that is to be expected due to the many uncertainties. It will never go away until you finished. Please make full use of the uni's counselling services. Eating and sleeping well help a lot as do exercise. Moral support is exceptionally important. Do you have other friends or mentors you can turn to? Talk to them a lot to de-stress. Please manage yourself when your experiments do not work. Walk in the park. Shout it out. exercise until you are completely spent. then focus on your experiments again a different day. Take a step back and revisit the study again.

On the bigger picture of things, are you stuck with a bad supervisor or project? It is weird that your supervisor has not stepped in on project direction when you have not progressed as much as desired. Please talk to your postgraduate coordinator or PhD officer in your school. Get help ASAP in the form of a new co-supervisor or another experienced researcher as mentor. Do you have a thesis committee/reviewer who keeps check on your progress? Schedule a meeting with your supervisor and thesis committee to ask their advice to steer the project in the right direction.

However, since you are still considered early in your candidature (<2 years), you could potentially talk to your postgraduate coordinator about changing supervisor and project. A bad supervisor is unlikely to change for the better. Is there another good supervisor with projects that you like? Your postgraduate coordinator can talk to you on this. Don't worry, all is confidential.

Sometimes the stress and the fear are silent calls from inside you to take actions to change things. Do think about my suggestions and see if actions can improve your project state and your feelings about your PhD. Take care and DO NOT break.