10.14.22
Wow. Hard to believe that the semester is already halfway over. They say that time goes by faster as you get older, but it’s really been flying this semester. Not sure if it’s because I’m particularly busy, but the days seem long and the weeks seem short. This semester has turned out to be quite busy as I juggle three courses, being a TA for two classes, an RA for another professor, prepare for a conference presentation in November, and start my own data collection. I’ve also got into dog sitting, which has turned into the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me 🙂 upon getting back to school, I was insistent that I needed to get my own dog now, and of course my mother was able to convince me that was an extremely poor idea… dog sitting has turned into being the best of both worlds, getting to hang out with a bunch of doggos while getting paid and turning the money into investments for my future dog.
What has gone well: Multivariate analysis, a quantitative research methods course, has been much better than expected. I thought it was going to be a bunch of higher-level stats, but the professor basically picked up where we left off after intermediate stats and hasn’t gone much further, instead choosing to elaborate on data collection, how to identify a “good study” and cleaning our own data. Feminist theory and qualitative methods have given me good background and useful readings that help me incorporate new ideas into my own projects. Also, I got IRB approval over the summer and have started my own interviews!
What I’m struggling with: I’m very forward-thinking, which can be good because it means I never turn in assignments late, but it also means that I unnecessarily throw myself into frets about attending “enough” conferences, publishing early, and future summer plans. Still struggling to make time for myself and work on the work-life balance. I’ve been going camping every weekend, which will soon turn to skiing once winter hits. Yet outside of these hours, I find that I have an internal clock that continuously beats myself up for not being “productive” enough, whether it be after I take an hour to eat lunch or work out. Sometimes I look back at the day and am like “Wtf did I do all day??” I know I need to learn to be more gentle on myself, because this criticism is not warranted, nor is it sustainable – it’s an easy way to burn out.
Questions: do I go back to summer camp this summer? Are there other ‘interesting’ research projects for me to work on? How do I budget better to allow for more fun and leisure activities?
-AZP
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