It’s been one long haul.
(Advance apologies for the longggggg self-reflective ramblings-on that are about to ensue.)
I haven’t really had a chance to recap, until now, on how I managed to arrive at this particular point in my grad school career. Excited but anxious...and finally seeing a pinprick of light at the end of this tunnel (akin in my mind to the Trans-Siberian railway or the Great Wall of China). I hope that through sharing I can offer some reassurance to those who are in the middle of grad school and feeling like there's no end in sight. I was there, mere months ago.
-->(Advance apologies for the longggggg self-reflective ramblings-on that are about to ensue.)
I haven’t really had a chance to recap, until now, on how I managed to arrive at this particular point in my grad school career. Excited but anxious...and finally seeing a pinprick of light at the end of this tunnel (akin in my mind to the Trans-Siberian railway or the Great Wall of China). I hope that through sharing I can offer some reassurance to those who are in the middle of grad school and feeling like there's no end in sight. I was there, mere months ago.
First off, it’s somewhat of a small miracle that my PhD
defense is now <1 month away. Second, I can hardly recognize the
shadow of the Nat I used to be before embarking on this mental marathon. Not
only have I packed on the pounds, gone deeper into debt, and have taken to
drowning my sorrows in EtOH-containing beverages; I’ve never in my life been
sicklier or all-round anxious. Here I am still struggling for survival while
most others of my cohort have already produced mini replicas of themselves. But
I can't complain too much about my #firstworldproblems. It was, after all, my
choice to walk this path so I suppose I should suffer the consequences. Some examples of said consequences:
