Hi everyone, I hope you are all coping well and progressing with you research...

I am starting my second year, but feel like I have hit a brick wall already. I am trying to find ways to progress but seem to struggling at the moment, experts in the field have told me that there is not much more to be done on my topic which makes me feel demotivated (considering I feel I am quite a self motivated person. I need to make progress and feel pressured (personally as my supervisor does not put much pressure on me). I feel like I struggle with even simple things, and can't seem to get the help I need to solve them, I post on so many forums to help me, but nobody responds. I feel alone in my research (which I have felt for a lot of my first year anyway). Any advice or words of encouragement would be much appreciated.

Thanks

I don't have any wonderful advice but encouragement I think I can manage.

You've not really stated a specific problem and it seems like you're struggling with general frustration, lack of motivation, and feeling like you're alone. It seems to me that everyone who undertakes research feels this way at some time, so in that way at least, you are certainly not alone. You only have to look through other threads on this forum to see these issues time and time again, so don't beat yourself up about it and ease some of that self-inflicted pressure. Start with the least difficult/ most easily achieved tasks - small progress is still progress and will get you moving in the right direction.

About there not being much more to do on your topic: I don't understand. Surely you must be doing something worthwhile to add to your topic or you would not have been accepted onto a PhD in the first place, so have faith in your research.

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I've never met a phd student who didn't feel like that, so you're definitely not alone.  What you're going through is the '2nd year slump' (also known as the '2nd year blues').

It's normal. It's unavoidable.  It's a test - you haven't come this far by failing every challenge that has come your way, right?

The phd process wears you down. Once your spirit has been worn away, it's what's left underneath that counts.

Keep going! (up)

Also, there's always more research to be done...