Morning fellow Phders,

My work seems to be getting easier - is this normal? Or do you think I could be being dangerously delusional?

I had very poor supervision for my first year, but have been with a great supervisor since May. Although things seemed horribly hard four months ago, when I first began with the new one - meetings consisted of two hours of grilling and gruelling (constructive) criticism, it all seems to be getting much easier. It's still difficult, but there isn't the sense of constant, mind bending struggle that I've had these last few months. Maybe I should have that all the time - maybe I should be struggling for more, hhhmm, or maybe I've reached a natural plateau.

Anyone else felt like this?

You sound more like things are falling into place with your work: good supervisor, you know what you're doing, are getting on with it and enjoying it too, from what you've written! PhDs would be terminally grim if they were 100% struggle with no good bits to remind us of why we wanted to do it in the first place.

I did have a 'so is that it???' moment while I was writing up, when after months of grappling with my methodology I returned to two papers I'd read years back that suddenly seemed horrendously obvious as central to my thesis. They simplified the whole thing and it all became clear, everything fell into place theoretically and I wondered why I'd taken so long to 'get it'. It seemed too straightforward to be right, but my supervisor said that's how you get to ideas sometimes, it's part of the process.

Of course, that's not to say you're not delusional, I really wouldn't like to say, but it could creep up on you anytime! ;-)

I think there probably is a moment when it clicks - I play the cello and when I was about 13 after ages of completely misunderstanding '4th position' (i.e. where you play with your hand close to the body of the cello, rather than up at the top near the scroll) and then suddenly like an epiphany it all became so clear!

I think I have had that moment with my PhD - but then I just gave loads of writing to my supervisor so who is to tell! next week I could be back at square 1.

Walminski, it took long enough for it to happen and I'm certain your time will come!! My mini-epiphany was one of the few good things to emerge from my quagmire of writing-up misery.

Thank you everybody! My skills have improved very much - and I have this feeling that, although I don't have everything sorted, I will do, in good time. Hopefully it's an epiphany, time, and my next supervisory meeting will tell - they're getting easier, even a few positive comments at the last one whoooop, whoop - I see that as a major coup.