Hi folks, I've not been around for a while but I hope you can help me, nevertheless.

I took a week off, starting almost two weeks ago and I can't get going again - I just feel so tired, like I need two months off. I had a really tough year of teaching - more than full time hours in 3 different unis, running programmes and dealing with a horrible group of 100 first years, bleurrggghh.

I'm still really into my PhD and when I look at the print out of the bt of work I'm meant to be doing I get a lift, a feeling of excitement, but don't get round to actually doing it. I fell asleep on the sofa today after eating loads of icecream instead, and yesterday I had a 1 1/2 hour yoga class, plus 40 min walk there and back which turned into mooching about in town and enoying a 4 mile saunter along the river front in glorious sunshine. It felt like a holiday -somethign I would love, but can't afford.

During yoga when I was meant to be tuning out etc and this moring when I was meditating I kept having thoguhts about my reseacrh and teaching, so I'm not switching off completely. I'm in no man's land.

I presented at the top conference recently - just before my break - and my work went down well. But I wish I were further along, I know I am capable of finishing mroe quickly but am just so tired during the holidays and have not time at term time. I feel I've lost my umph.

In summary:
You worked really hard this year... you allowed yourself just a week off to recover...now you're beating yourself up for the fact that your body/mind maybe need a little bit more time to regroup?

Sound like a classic case of PhD guilt.

You can't afford a holiday, but you can afford the yoga, ice cream, naps and walks in the sun. I would suggest enjoying the restorative effects of those properly and giving yourself a few more day respite before trying to get back into the swing of things.

No one needs more a holiday, as the man who just had one :)

Other than that, I know that I am ready to go back to work when I get bored of doing nothing. At some point, I just really miss going back to my structured PhD life. Allow yourself more time, it's been a hard year.

Hi Eska

Nothing hugely significant to add over and above what the previous two posters have so eloquently said. I feel pretty similar, totally running on empy as I head towards the end of my PhD. Maybe just try to keep ticking along, doing even a little bit each day and gradually bit by bit your workrate and umph for your research will increase. If you force yourself too much you are likely to burn out and totally resent it although I acknowledge the irony of me typing this at 22.10 on a Friday evening!

Good job about the conference though, that sounds confidence boosting (up)

======= Date Modified 17 Jul 2011 23:41:31 =======
Hi all, thank you for your responses. I've had a total rest over the weekend - seeing friends all day and evening yesterday, and recovering via vegetating and roast dinner today. Hopefully I will get back to a steady pace next week.

I'm kind of glad I took advantage of the good weather when we had it though, so I don't regret my relaxation. Plus I've arranged to go and stay with my family for a week or so in France later in the summer - that's made me feel better.

Thank you people! X

Hi Eska,

Sorry I'm a bit late in responding, but just wanted to say I can empathise. I got married in May and then went off on a wonderful three week honeymoon, so coming back down to PhD work was really difficult. The only thing that got me back down to earth was doing an interview for my data collection, which renewed my enthusiasm, but it's good that you still have this!

Join in on the one goal thread, and use mytomatoes. But don't be hard on yourself- accept that your days may not be as productive as they could be, but just doing something small will make you feel much better.