The start of this month officially marked 3 years since I started my PhD. This put me in a rather panicky state because it was scary to process how time just flew. But it was also exciting when I began to reflect on my achievements in the last 3 years. It was important for me to take on this reflection as I am often harsh on myself and tend to focus on failures or things that didn’t work out. This is why I find it beneficial to reflect at least once a month through writing this series.
In terms of progress with my PhD, my accomplishments included submitting my paper revisions and recruiting around over 100 people in my intervention. Earlier this month, I was really excited to be moving closer to our target. However, I have had major setbacks since then. Towards the end of January, I submitted an ethics modification which incorporated a new mode of recruitment. I was really hoping to get better results but unfortunately, it did not work out for me despite getting approval. It was frustrating because I had seen others gain success using the same technique. So, I had no other choice but to resort to existing old-fashioned methods (i.e. putting up flyers).
I also worked on another ethics modification (hopefully this will be the last one). I was hoping to submit abstracts to present my results later this year but I am still in the middle of collecting data. I was disappointed in myself for not being able to prepare a submission on time because I have always been successful in the past (the conference deadlines have always pushed me to get my paper ready). However, I was quick to remind myself that everything happens for a reason (I constantly tell myself that when I miss out on opportunities). It’s a bit different now because I am dealing with a much larger data set, and my priorities have changed. My current priorities are to finish running this intervention, write up my final paper and submit my thesis. Speaking of which, I have made some progress with writing but not to the level I was hoping.
In other news, we went on a rural getaway to celebrate our anniversary (blog coming up soon). My month ended with a desk move. It was really exciting to be upgrading after 3 years but also a little sad because my PhD journey is coming to an end.
Here are some of my February eats :)
