100 Days 2 Go
Until I submit my PhD thesis!
Until I submit my PhD thesis!
Today I submitted my PhD thesis! It is finished.
I am feeling grateful, relieved, happy, exhausted, proud and a little sad. However, one door closes and many more open. I am trusting that the future will be exciting and rewarding no matter what opportunities arise. I am so fortunate because I had the opportunity to begin and complete a PhD. The first person in my family. What a privilege. I have an incredible team of collaborators, colleagues and supervisor. It has not been unicorns and rainbows. It has been hard. It has been very challenging at times when life outside of my PhD was tough. If anything, I am resilient! Words can't express my gratitude. If you have helped my in any way along the way, thank you. I dedicate this PhD thesis to my husband and two daughters. I could not have started or completed this epic journey without their unconditional love and support. I will update you to the final stages - examination, approval and graduation still to come. Truely grateful xx
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I have finally submitted my second paper! Not bad since the original draft went to my collaborators on the 9th December 2017! Snoopy you can dance again!
I am polishing paper 3 still. Doing more stats again. Not loving that at all. I still don't have anything actually 100% finished yet. Minor edits need to be made and checks - but getting there. I have been working 12 hour days. My friends and colleagues said they pulled off 16 hour days. I am not made for 16 hour days - my brain turns into soupy jelly. 12 hours is a struggle at the moment. My plan was to get things done by Friday and have the weekend off before submission on Monday. PhD delusions are still here apparently. So this time next week I would have submitted and be lying on a beach somewhere.... well maybe not. But I will be NOT working on my thesis that's for sure.
I thought I might be a bit more excited about the week to go - but I am not that excited really. I actually feel a bit bored with my thesis today. Not sure what that is about. Maybe I am bored from all the polishing. I am making progress. I feel tired and bored. Weird. Not sure if that is normal or not. Maybe it is denial. Who knows. I am eating a lot. Just to force myself to keep working. I am feeling tired and hopeful.
There are delays and hurdles galore..... AND I am still making progress. Lucky I am an endurance runner and know what "hitting the wall" feels like. Yes, I am tired. But I am stubborn and have never got a DNF "Did Not Finish" on my record. So here I am ready for another day before 8am on Monday two weeks out. Nothing wrong with the Grandma shuffle to the end...... My presentation went really well!
I got some lovely comments from academics about my PhD project. They focused on the content of the research. Other collaborators provided more personal feedback about my resilience and determination to get to the end of a demanding project despite all the other challenges that have happened throughout the last 5.5 years. Very nice. So now all I have to do is finish writing the final chapter. Submit two papers. Polish a couple of other things. Nearly done......right? My supervisor said she needs a holiday after I submit. Yep. I have worn her out. I have worn me out. Possibly my collaborators too. Maybe my family and friends. That's what PhD's do. Well hopefully not just mine. My new favourite game is: "What can I forget to bring today?" that incudes things like important documents, appointments etc. and more importantly, my lunch! When I get sick of that game I like to play: "Let's keep the lid of my water bottle open and put it in my bag". Excellent. If I am REALLY lucky, I play both games on the same day. I ran 30km this morning. Hopefully that will help with the over-consumption of biscuits. Maybe I should work out how far I would have to run to burn off a biscuit..... Nah. Well, it is Saturday afternoon and I am using my blog to procrastinate, so best get back to work. Just keep swimming Dory. Feeling a bit like a happy peanut! I just emailed my final paper to my collaborators.
I will complete my final oral presentation for my PhD thesis tomorrow. Making progress! Tomorrow is four weeks to go. I am begginning to think this might actually be finished in four weeks. I have started drafting my final chapter so there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I have the cognitive capacity of a peanut. I am tired. I find it very difficult to tolerate delays. I cannot take on new information. For example, the two cars I drive have the wipers and indicators on the opposite side. Every time I turn a corner the wipers go on. Every single time. No flexibility to be able to work that difficult problem out apparently. Even though it hasn't been fairy floss and rainbows I am still hanging in there like the lovely frog above. I have still managed to do work everyday and not get too overwhelmed. I haven't lost my biscuit despite my low tolerance. I have probably eaten too many biscuits. No way I am getting on the scale between here and submission date. Just gotta hang in there and keep polishing. Wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off. |
AuthorI am a PhD student in the last 100 days of my thesis and I thought I would blog this experience. ArchivesCategories |