Thank you guys for your encouragement. It's really nice to hear from other people and get a different perspective on things. Reading the post as someone else was indeed insightful.

I guess it's a constant struggle, so why not enjoy the process. I've never thought of it this way. Thank you for showing me a different way of thinking.

xoxo

Dear fellow PhD sufferers, help. I feel like crying. I lie in bed and sometimes I cry for no reason. Tears just fall from my eyes and then I fall asleep.

I just came back from seeing a professional counsellor / psychologist, but she didn't give me any new insight. So I left feeling marginalised. I suppose you can call it that seeing that we are the minority. The crazy few that think that this is a wonderful journey.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm doing a PhD because I want to prove to myself that I can do it. Don't get me wrong, I love my research, I enjoy it. But it doesn't mean that it's not hard. I'm constantly anxious that I'm going to let people down, my supervisors, my partner, my family, my friends. Not just letting them down, but embarrassing myself along the way. Maybe I can't do it after all! Which makes me feel worse because I want to prove to myself that I can do it. There is some history there - lets just say it has something to do with the education system I was brought up in, which pigeon holed me and casts late bloomers aside.

Anyway, the stress of being a PhD, I'm not sure what exactly the stress is, except that it's everywhere right now. The stress of my partner being away (he has been working in another state because the job was a good opportunity on many levels), and having to deal with my housemates (lets just say I have one that is a fruit loop and another that is the devil).

I know my 'issues' sound so lame. But I can't see through it. The PhD has consumed my being and I wake up hating everyone, angry, frustrated and yet at the same time nothing. Absolutely nothing.

It's ironic that I help council people around me including other PhDs, but when it comes to myself, nothing. I can't even take heed of what I know is useful and constructive advice.

I.just.want.to.cry.and.I.don't.know.why.

Hey Frequentnoise,

have you tried practicing yoga. I find that daily yoga practices help me cope with mental issues. I know it's hard to keep it up, but its a case of forming the habit. I still find it a challenge to do every single day, but it is my goal - It really does focus the mind and help you de-stress. I don't know what it is about yoga, but i'd give it a go!

By the way, you might want to try Bikram Yoga or hot yoga, it's my preference.

Hi guys,

I'm hoping a quantitative researcher can point me in the right direction. I've conducted my pilot survey and I think I'm about ready to launch it for real, but I'm so worried that I haven't done enough analysis on it to ensure that it's good to go!

Can anyone tell me what the main tests are that one should conduct before a quantitative survey goes live?

I've done scale reliabilities, frequencies and descriptives, but I'm not sure what else I need to do...

Anyone??

Thank you so much guys, your encouragement so far means a lot.

It's been hard because my partner (who is planning to do his PhD but hasn't gotten in yet) encourages me all the time and gives me advice, but I can't trust him on them because... well, he's not doing it yet and hasn't done it so I don't feel he understands and might be giving me the wrong advice.

I will take your advice and not completely stop on the PhD - It just seems so much easier to focus on one thing and one thing only - I guess this is where the juggling act comes in hey! It just sucks that I feel like I'm not cut out for this and that I'm no good at it.. etc etc...

I did try the tomato technique once, but never stuck to it... I felt like I was having more 'time off' than I should be and ended up abandoning it - mind you, now I'm in such a bad way that I'm wasting even more time compared to the 5 - 10 minute breaks that the tomato technique allowed.

I'm going to look into making up a list now and getting onto the tomato again... (=

Hi everyone.

I was wondering if I could ask for some advice regarding how people manage their first year and time...

I started in October 2010 in a psychology / intercultural relations field. Since January, I started RAing and doing research for my supervisor (which has truly taken my head space away from my PhD totally, even though I commit 25 hours a week). And i'm starting to panic, but at the same time the panic causes me to shut down rather than work harder if that makes sense. I'm hoping to finish up my project by the end of March or latest by April and just dedicate my time to the PhD, but still I'm having issues managing my head space and time.

Some people talk about working a 9-5pm schedule to have a 'healthy' balance, but I can't seem to go for more than 2 or 3 hours straight. It takes up so much brain power reading (mostly, that's where I'm at) and writing that I get so distracted if I work more than 2 hours. So I end up taking an hour break and starting again - so by the end of the day, my 9 - 5pm really ends up working out to be 4 or 5 hours of real work - which is no where near a 7 or 8 hour work day, and I'm just feeling guilty all the time!

Can someone please advice me or tell me what i'm doing wrong or how I can better manage this? I used to work in Communications, and though it was a 9 - 5pm job, at least I had the distractions of meetings and juggling multiple projects all at the one time.

Am i on the right track just reading mostly in my first 6 - 8 months?? It's just back and forth with reading and writing... and I just haven't seem to gotten a grasp on how to manage it. Please help!!! I think I'm finding myself falling into the evil pit of PhD depression.

Thanks for reading...

Thanks Sneaks,

Looks like I better start getting pen to paper, or finger to keyboard as it is these days before my reading material gets overwhelming.

I'm going to start to think of a few subject areas that are most pertinent and go from there.

thanks again.

Hi all,
I'm into my 5th month now and I've had to read heaps of papers as you can imagine... does anyone else forget what they read? It freaks me out that supposedly all this information I'm reading is supposed to be in my head, but at the same time if you ask me to recall something, I really struggle!

More importantly though, there is talk about writing as you go, and my supervisor advised me to have an outline of my literature review and add to it as I read each paper, can anyone clarify on that? How do you go about reading and writing exactly?

Hi everyone,

I'm into my fourth month doing my PhD and have settled on a research area and topic within intercultural relations but I'm having a bit of a paralysis by analysis...

I was wondering if anyone out there could share their experiences with what kind of projects and tasks they set out for themselves to make sure consistent progress.

It's daunting having to just make it all come together and I find myself reading and trying to write everyday but I still feel a little lost as to where exactly it is that I'm headed.

Any advice?

Hi guys,

I'm three months into my PhD and already I find my motivation going up and down depending on the time to day, mood, etc...

I'm doing my PhD in intercultural relations in Australia.

I was wondering if anyone out there is interested in being an accountability partner just to keep each other in check with how things go weekly...


Cheers!

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