Chaos. That is the best way to describe what this semester felt like. Or rather this whole school year. This was the first time I did not have classwork to complete, classes to go to, and an actual schedule to accomplish my tasks and goals for the semester, and I felt it was hard. Sure, I could keep up with preparing for comprehensive exams, but I had regular meetings with my committee members to keep me moving. And I mean that in the sense that it is much like a class because I had tasks to complete and notes to send before the next meeting.
Things were hectic this semester between work and personal things like buying a house, so when I finished and successfully defended my dissertation prospectus a couple of weeks ago, it was quite the weight lifted. But my three-week summer research trip looms large (more on that to come), as does my aggressive goal of completing a dissertation draft in one year. I know I can do it, but I also know that if I allow myself to become complacent like I did this past semester and a bit this whole year, it won’t happen. And I need it to. And I don’t want to dwell too much on the time I feel like I wasted, but I also want to take stock of why my progress might have been so stagnant so that I can actively plan to fix it. So here goes nothing:
- I tried to bite off more than I could chew
- So I will take projects weeks by week and even day by day, setting realistic goals to accomplish each day.
- I spent too much time on social media.
- So I need to listen to the screen time limits I have set for myself instead of ignoring them when they pop up while I doom-scrolling TikTok.
- I didn’t establish my priorities.
- So I will establish my priorities and plan my week and days accordingly
- This includes things like sleep, working out, meals, cleaning and organizing in the new house, and of course, my dissertation
- So I will establish my priorities and plan my week and days accordingly
- I allowed myself to get distracted during times when I had time to work
- With summer break a week away, I will be able to focus on my work and take intentional time to enjoy the little bit of summer I have before my research trip.
- I did not get enough or regular enough sleep, which messed me up and made afternoon naps a common occurrence, which is the death of productivity.
- Prioritizing 8 hours of sleep at regular hours (I think 12-8am in the summer?) will make me feel better and more ready to take on the day.
- I let my exercise completely fall off – making me feel sluggish and tired
- But I am a couple of weeks into a new program that I am actually paying for via an app, and it is making me feel so good that I am sort of gamified to keep going.
- We overate takeout, which means terrible gut health, sluggishness, weight gain, and stress about the finances of fast food.
- But I have found an excellent easy, super healthy lunch/dinner bowl I love making and eating, and that, coupled with the move being over and things not being in boxes, should help me get back on track.
- I think I spent most of the last 8 months dehydrated.
- Just drink water like you used to!
Wow, that was a lot, but it was good to get it on paper, and dear reader, I hope it inspires you to think about your habits and what you can improve on. I know that as I was doing this, it really helped me to phrase the list as the two pieces, the problem, and my solution, and to do so in a way that reads out loud like a single sentence.
Summer will be a time for me to relax a bit, but also a time for a good reset. I can’t totally shut off; there is too much to do, but it will be a good time for me to slowly integrate pieces into a routine. Slow and steady wins the race, after all!
Erica Anne Price 