I have things I’ve been meaning to post about, but instead, in light of my current situation, I leave you with this:
Do you see the giant cavernous slump in 5th year? That is exactly where I am right now. And right at the very lowest point, it should say “All experiments that were working have suddenly inexplicitly stopped despite weeks worth of troubleshooting”.
I have fallen into the Fifth Year Pit of Despair.
Even one of the PIs of the lab recognized the Pit of Despair, acknowledged that no one could possibly be motivated in this situation, and told me to take the rest of the day off and eat ice cream. And who I would I be to argue? (Okay, well, instead of ice cream I had non-dairy, fruit-sweetened Soy Delicious, which is possibly my Favorite Thing Ever, but same idea.)
Anyone have some rope to start dragging me up the giant peak of motivation to lead towards my defense?
***UPDATE***
One of my favorite Twitter followers, @bam294, who always provides a hilarious PI-point of view of situations, sent me this SNL clip to describe my current situation. Indeed, there was a light at the end of the tunnel… but… alas…. it’s broken. I guess I just need to “fix it”. (Fast forward to ~2:05.)
10 comments:
Oh God I am just at the start . I have worked for almost a year on the application and project proposal .. so does that count as year 1? :)
And its sad that I cant get to watch this video
I have that comic right above my desk at work, so I could look at it when I felt the same way and at least could laugh a little.
Honestly, the only advice I can give is to take some time off. Every few months I just felt so burnt out and hating everything. I found giving myself a week off was a lifesaver! Allowing yourself to do nothing, or spending time doing things you enjoy and are good at, really helps.
Good luck, and hang in there!
oh gosh, i just started 3rd year and NOTHING has worked this summer. i have to face that again 5th year??? sadly i'm in the pre-quals baseline (and in denial that i have to take them!) so i have no motivational talks prepared yet....
ummmm, good luck?!
Hang in there, trooper!
I've been reading the top 200 PhD comics lately. They are a very useful way to procrastinate!
I am familiar with the slumps. They suck. And the best advice is probably to echo what Alyssa said, even though it feels so wrong to stop now, when nothing is working, it really can do you a world of good.
In the meantime, I hope even one thing works, because sometimes all you need is one small result to lift you out of the slump.
Ah the 5th year slump. It sucks and blows, luckily the "I just want to get the hell out of here" fire starts blazing under your ass very soon. Good luck.
I feel your pain.
That graph is remarkably accurate, even down to "advisor loses funding" Immediately preceding the steep upward slope in year 5. The thing that currently worries me is the downturn at "start writing dissertation" because for me this event must precede the defense, and dammit! I don't think I can afford another slump before the defense.
You might want to check out my blog :)
Hang in there girl. You're going to get through this and out of the slump in no time!
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