Tuesday, July 15, 2014

ABD!!!

Again, I haven't posted in a fairly long while.  Thankfully, I have good news to share.  I successfully defended by dissertation proposal in April and have thus entered the "ABD" stage.  My defense was followed by the last 2 weeks of the semester and crazy grading for 2 classes; compiling my IRB application alongside prepping for a month-long overseas trip to visit my in-laws.  I was blessed that my son LOVES airplanes and that although my daughter is a very feisty and independent 2 year old, they did splendidly well on all of the flights and while we were in South Asia/the Middle East.  Every since we got back a few weeks ago, they have been asking to go back there.  If only it weren't so expensive (and of course, tiring)...we could go more often. 

Since we returned from the trip, I've been a bit swamped working on another project whilst patiently waiting for IRB approval to begin my dissertation research.  I received the official approval right before the 4th of July weekend.  I've been adding to my list of potential interviewees and doing more background research.  A few scheduling issues have crept up-- mainly 1.  I only have 2 days of day care per week for the rest of the summer; 2.  I had to start physical therapy twice per week for chronic back problems.  Unfortunately, the PT office doesn't have evening hours, so I've been trying to get the earliest or the latest appointments to squeeze out as much work time those two days per week.  I'm also trying (or at least *starting* to try) to get even a little work done during the evenings, but I must say, it is challenging for different reasons.  I was encouraged this morning by the following post that I uncovered on Inside Higher Ed.  I really need to make my schedule more "sacred":

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/parenting-grad-school#sthash.XfkWkn8x.dpbs

I must say that I've also had my fair share of symptoms of "imposter syndrome" the last couple of weeks, which has been enhanced by the chronic sense of not having enough time.  I need to take the advice of the author of this article and continually perform cognitive behavioral therapy on myself (I think that I mentioned this in one of my prior "advice that I should take myself" posts) by saying that "I do have enough time; I will get these things done; I will reach my goals, no matter how miniscule they might seem."  I also need to tell myself that it's okay if I need to spend some time organizing my disastrous house (i.e., projects that should have been done LAST summer) so that we can 1.  possibly get some stuff together to have a tag sale, since things are quite tight financially this summer; 2.  it will just help me to be more focused overall.  Also, the ABD stage comes with the reality that I will have to figure out many things on my own; due to the fact that I live far from campus and the basic nature of my research project, I will feel very isolated at times.  This is all part of professional development, although getting over the initial hurdles of recruiting participants is not always an easy feat.

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