To my surprise I realised today that it has been five weeks since I submitted my PhD thesis. That means that for five weeks I've been sitting around doing nothing much. Honestly. I've watched a lot of daytime TV in my pyjamas (mostly cooking shows for some reason), attempted some cooking experiments (with varying levels of success) and walked/run on my treadmill a bit. That's pretty much it. It is strange how quickly I've become accustomed to this lifestyle and yet how much time has passed with nothing much accomplished.
I don't like it.
I do think I needed a long break after all the stress of the final couple of months of my PhD. My brain is starting to come out of the fog though and I want to start being active again... and yet at the same time sitting around and being a hermit just seems easier. It's a weird state to be in considering how ambitious I usually am.
The other difficulty is the uncertainty. Not knowing where/when/if I'll get a job is very unsettling, as this is the first time since I was around 15 that I've had no idea what's next.
At least I have some more undergraduate teaching lined up as of next week. Nothing big or permanent, but something to tide me over until I get some sort of grown up job. Fortunately I haven't been booted from the PhD office yet (often they make people give up their desks once they've submitted) so I may also try to finish writing up my papers when I'm at uni.
Err, so yeah. That's what's going on with me. What have you been up to? :)
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I do think I needed a long break after all the stress of the final couple of months of my PhD. My brain is starting to come out of the fog though and I want to start being active again... and yet at the same time sitting around and being a hermit just seems easier. It's a weird state to be in considering how ambitious I usually am.
The other difficulty is the uncertainty. Not knowing where/when/if I'll get a job is very unsettling, as this is the first time since I was around 15 that I've had no idea what's next.
At least I have some more undergraduate teaching lined up as of next week. Nothing big or permanent, but something to tide me over until I get some sort of grown up job. Fortunately I haven't been booted from the PhD office yet (often they make people give up their desks once they've submitted) so I may also try to finish writing up my papers when I'm at uni.
Err, so yeah. That's what's going on with me. What have you been up to? :)
Perhaps a short course on the side? Photography? Yoga? Something fun that doesn't require too much thinking all the time? I love that through your posts we've been on this journey with you! In about nine months hopefully I'll be submitting and five weeks after that I'll be writing a post similar to this one :)
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the funemployment time suck. I know it well. It's a curse in real time but in retrospect you'll always look upon it fondly. Days and days in pajamas. SIGH.
ReplyDeleteIt makes a lot of sense that you'd spend a good amount of time after your phd slightly unconscious, and that you'd get used to it. It's really good that you've managed to become aware of it this soon in--I've seen it go on for months and months with some people, so good for you! And good luck getting back into the swing of things :) Even if your employment life is a little shaky at the moment (yeah, it's scary not knowing what you're doing next!) there are always things you can do to be productive...it can just take a while to figure out what those things are. I like the yoga or photography class suggestion above. Getting out of the house and doing something somewhat social can be a good motivator to at least break up the day.
ReplyDeleteYou'll figure it out :)
I hear ya on the funemployment front. It's...less than fun! Good luck and glad that you have something lined up for a little while anyway.
ReplyDeleteOooh, what cooking shows are you watching?
ReplyDeleteI remember over my summer whilst I was unemployed I basically had a tv schedule and anything else fit around that. However I did know I had an end date to my laziness.