Holiday is part of the timeline too!

Assalamualaikum & Hello all

(This post was meant to be published last week. However, it slipped my mind (I am getting really old) and therefore only posted today)

How was your weekend? Mine was splendid. It was a sleepover weekend for me with my two mates at their place involving lots of good food, laughter and movies. It's a well-spent weekend if you ask me. No laptop involved, no journals included and work was on 'hibernate' mode.

The point of this post is to say that PhD students are allowed to go for holidays too!! Isn't that awesome? Ok that was lame. I am sure we all know that for sure. Well actually I am just stressing the fact that holidays are so important for PhD student (and non-PhD student) simply because we are not machines and holidays will do us good. Trust me. Why? First of all, I had 3 weeks of holiday in August and it was worth it. It was a REAL holiday whereby I decided to detach myself from work/PhD completely (not completely, but to a great extend).

 

Yes I went back in November for about 2 months but that was not a holiday. How is it a holiday when you had to undergo a surgery and spend most of the time either compromising the pain or worrying about how long it would take to heal. Therefore it was not a holiday (I don’t know why I took the trouble to justify that so seriously).

Anyway, back to my point again, the importance of holiday.  I planned my holiday to coincide with Eid Celebration (Hari Raya Aidilfitri). It would be fantastic to be at home with family, savoring the good food, visiting friends and relatives. It would be splendid I thought. To cut to the chase, my Supervisor approved my annual leave for 20 days and I went home on August 1. As mentioned previously, I did not bring along my laptop, I was adamant that it is going to be a real HOLIDAY. There I was, at home, occupied with Eid preparation, making sure that everything is in place for the big day. I can bet that I was more excited than my 3 year old niece. 

 

 

I made a point to really enjoy myself and I did just that despite the minor accident 2 days before Eid. I deserve a good time to rejuvenate and also recharge my energy. I only checked my emails twice or thrice in 20 days. The strategy worked really well. Upon returning, I told myself that it is time to go back to work and while packing, I visualized the work I have to finish, the Confirmation, Mini Conference, Ethics application and so on. That entire image successfully erased the joyous holiday mood (in a good way though). By the time I touched down, I am ready for the next mission. My friends commented that I looked good fresh and energetic and they were right I suppose.

Moral of the story, Holidays should be part of your timeline too! It is so important that you take a break from PhD every once in a while, the best is to plan so that you have a target and stay motivated. If you can’t afford real (big) holidays, a mini-holiday or even a micro-holiday will do. Point is, you MUST have holidays!

Raise your hand if you agree with me :)

 

Thank You for Reading

 

Miss F.

 

So you think it is a competition?

Assalamualaikum & Hello All

Is PhD a competition? If it is, then what sort of a competition is it? Enlighten me please for I have been ignorant or non-competitive for the past 15 months or so. Oh boy, am I doomed? No no no...

Personally, I don't think that PhD is a competition in anyway or with anyone but you.  As mentioned in my earlier post, my stance with regards to PhD is about discovering my true potential, my true self, pushing myself to the edge and also about achieving the Self-Actualization stage. I never ever imagine that it would be a competition with anyone.

Why should it be a competition when;

•       we have diverse working style,
•       none of us are doing the same thing,
•       we are all pacing at different speed,
•       each and every one of us are we are steering through so many different directions and
•        living our personal lives at the same time

I’d be dumbfounded and rather speechless when being asked questions that I myself don’t have answers for such as;

1.   How come you are still doing that when I am already doing this? (Erkkk!seriously?)
2.   Didn’t you start last year? Why are you so slow? (Is this is a gentle way of telling me that I am an idiot?) 
3. Are you having trouble with your studies that you are not progressing as you should be? (So, your studies are trouble-free? Wow, you are so fluky, I am green with envy *puke*)

Like seriously, PhD is unlike Undergrad or even Masters (by coursework that is) where you attend classes, submit assignments and sit for exams. There’s a lot of competition going on while at that stage but not anymore, not at the PhD stage. The only competition that exists now is within you. How you strategize, how you achieve the objectives, how you overcome the obstacles and most importantly your attitude towards the whole PhD journey.

Last but not least, this is just my 2 cents. You don’t have to agree or disagree with me, no obligations. However I appreciate you taking time to read this post.

Thank You for your time

Miss F.

Stressful September

Assalamualaikum & Hello all

 

How fast time flies? It has been 3 months since my last post. I have not been lazy, but crazy busy and I blame it on September. Well actually I lied, I did manage to squeeze a 3 week holiday back home. It was indeed a much needed break from all the dramas that was happening at that time. Not drama drama, I just like to call it drama, so it sounds a bit dramatic. Ahah, now I understand why some friends call me Drama Queen. I take it as a compliment, Thank You

Ok back to the point. A really quick glance on what happened for the past 3 months. The major stuff would be moving to a new place. Yes, I found a flat mate and I am now living in a bigger place compared to my cozy little studio where I can’t bake (because there’s no oven and if I were to buy an oven, I would have to put it on my bed). LoL

What about this new place? Before I go there, let me talk about the whole planning and organizing the move. That was added stress to my already stressful life. Everything here is about money (lots of them to be precise). I took 3 weeks off work (more specifically my PhD) just to organize the whole moving out episode. But looking back, it was just perfect timing since I was dealing with a ‘psycho’ at work who sits next to me. Oh my goodness, I can understand that some people are not ‘socially gifted’ but this guy is a total retard. I mean seriously. I don’t intend to dedicate a post about him just because he gave me a hard time. I don’t want you all to be stressed, that’s all.. LoL

There were so many things I had to organize such as: cleaning service (because I want my bond money back), movers (because I don’t have a car or a boyfriend with a car), electrical good (the new place is unfurnished and my future flat mate was at a conference that time), bed (or at least a mattress), dining table, sofas and etc.  It might seem like petty but it is not. Somehow I am glad I made the point to do my research and took time to really plan everything accordingly. Moving house is a BIG DEAL.

To cut the story short, I moved in officially on the 15^th July (fasting month) and sort of settled it as quickly as I could. I wasn’t sure if I did settle in then or later since my mind was more focused on the idea of going home for Hari Raya (Eid). Anyway, I flew back to Penang on the 1^st August and returned to Melbourne on the 20^th August. It was indeed timely that I went back. After all the stress and dramas, I came back with renewed energy and spirit.

Me & Chris (My awesome SV)

So the new drama begins as soon as I came back but I was prepared for it, in fact I was waiting for it since few months ago. My confirmation of candidature (CoC) oral presentation date has been confirmed. I was thrilled when I got the news (told myself to panic later). And the preparation took place. Proposal need to be edited and proofread before submission. Final final final draft to be read by my Supervisors. Not to forget the HDR Mini Conference a.k.a. The Annual Review would be happening the following week. So it’s double drama. Nice. However, I have to deal with it, like it or not. If I succeed, it would be the first milestone in my PhD, officially. Now you get the idea why I call this post Stressful September.

In a nutshell, I survived both the presentation and I am proud of myself even though it is just a small achievement. Nevertheless, I could have not done it without the unending support and guidance from my Supervisors, the ongoing encouragement and motivation from my writing support group (imagine people who are willing to spend their afternoon helping you practice your presentation and being make-believe panel members); I couldn’t ask for more. Maybe one day I will dedicate a post about my awesome support group girls J

From left: Afzalina, Alison, Me, Pei & Vassilissa (my support group, my gang!)

 

 Not to forget my family, friends and colleagues for their prayers and well wishes. Stressful September is over and work is becoming more challenging as my Supervisor expects me to raise the bar (oh no) and I expect myself to raise the bar too (seriously?).  Well, whatever it is, I will just keep going.

 Thank You for reading

 

Miss F.

Write from Day 1, WHAT? Day 1? Are you kidding me?

 

Assaalamualaikum & Hello all,

Based on the books I have read on writing a thesis or doing a PhD, the authors unanimously agreed that writing is the toughest challenge for any candidate. Majority of the authors urged that we should start writing from Day 1. I was perplexed when I read this “How is it possible to write from the very first day?” I asked myself, “What should I write?” In fact, the same advice is thrown to me in most of the workshops I attended. My Supervisors did not expect me to write from the first day though, I remember them mentioning about reading and reading and more reading. 

In my 2^nd (or 3^rd) month I started to worry “I have not written anything”, what have I been doing for the past two (three) months” and that’s when the Thesis Panic (as mentioned by Dr Inger Mewburn, The Thesis Whisperer) kicked in. I know I have been reading but I don’t see any of that since I don’t write anything. So I begin summarizing the journals I have read. The panic subsided when I started reading the summaries and as my Word Document file size increased.  But another question popped-up “What’s next?” I can’t go on writing summaries forever can I? 

Another episode of panic struck. Oh dear!!  I need an action plan. Mayday! Mayday!

I decided to categorize the summaries into similar topic/heading and then merging them into a piece of writing with paragraphs since the summaries are all in table format. Ah! Good idea I thought to myself. I started with 2 pages of summary on Customer Loyalty, my very first piece of writing. I emailed the document to my Supervisors and they thought that it is a good way of building my literature. I suppose I did something right (even though the quality is nothing near ‘academic writing’ standard). 

From then onwards, I developed a habit of writing and even though some of the documents will not go into my final thesis, I am really ok with that. What’s more important is I ‘obeyed’ to the advice to write from Day 1 (though I didn’t literally write from Day 1). 

As time goes by, the small pieces of writing I have done aided me in preparing the Confirmation of Candidature (CoC) document or the Research Proposal. Therefore, none of the work I have done is wasted. Admittedly, I have to make changes, restructure the sentences and also do some re-writing however I am glad I started from the very beginning. I believe in years to come, my academic writing quality will improve because through writing, we improve the way we think and become more critical about the subject we are writing. 

Thank You for reading

Miss F

Single VS Double

 

Assalamualaikum & Hello All

This post might instigate endless debacle among us, some might agree and maybe more would disagree but I am just writing to justify my side of the story.

So I am single and doing my PhD. It’s a little displeasing when I hear people say “Ah, it is much easier for you since you are single”. I just smiled and normally reserve my comments. After a while my brain starts analyzing because the ‘little displeasing’ has become more than little. If it is true that it is easier for us Singles, I am one happy GIRL. 

For me, PhD takes a lot of hard work, determination and it really pushes you to the edge (whether you are single or married or a single parent). We all face different set of challenges throughout the journey. In my defense, I would say that it is the same for everyone for several reasons:

1)      For singles like me, there’s no constant 24-7 support compared to married students (they have their spouse by their side to support them). No doubt my parents, friends are my biggest supporters but they are NOT here with me

2)      I have to do everything (cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, change the light bulb, pay the bills etc.) by myself. I don’t have the luxury of asking my spouse to do it for me (or even help me with it).

3)      When I am down, I rely on my support group friends for comforting words, suggesting possible solutions and help me get back on track. It is great but I have to bear in mind that they have problems too and it is unfair to take everything from them. Most of all, they are struggling with their PhD too.

These are not my excuses but this is my opinion. I just feel that such comment does not make sense at all. I have met someone single and finished her PhD is 5 years and a married lady who was doing her PhD part-time but managed to finish in 3 years. Even better, there’s another married lady with 3 young kids, did PhD part-time and finish is 2.5 years. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, I respect each and every one of us because we are brave and we want to better ourselves by embarking in this journey. My point is, we all have our advantages and disadvantages; most of all it depends on us on what to make of our journey. I can be single but lazy and unable to finish in 3 years and on the other hand there might be a married student who has to juggle family and study and able to finish on time. 

To conclude, no matter what our status, we are bound to encounter challenges along the way and the challenges come in various shapes and sizes. What’s more important is to persevere, manage time well, work really hard and enjoy the fruit of your labor after 3 years.

P.S. Relationship status is not a barrier that should hinder us from being fabulous & amazing :)  

 

 Thank You for reading

Miss F