Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I've Been Thinking...

I'm happy to report that I got back on the wagon. Since last Friday I have worked out/run and PhDed every day. I've decided to take a break this evening by catching up on some work - I know, I lead such an exciting life. Don't worry, I plan on watching some bad tv as well.

One of the things that I have learned about working on a PhD is that "working" on it often means thinking. I know this sounds strange, but hear me out - when you picture working on a PhD what often comes to mind is someone doing all this research, reading, and writing. While that is all true, I am finding that you also need lots of time to think. It could be thinking about themes you are finding in the data, or how you want to use an article or theory. For me, this thinking requires that I clear my head and really think about stuff.

Now, I don't know about you but the notion of sitting around and thinking about something sounds like a luxury to me. I mean, who has time to sit around and think? Between work, home, and life in general our minds are busy processing and sorting all kinds of information: emails I need to respond to, bits of information for meetings, did I sign off on that timesheet?, what time am I free in APRIL for that meeting?, was I supposed to get more yogurt for Keawe's lunch?, was Andrew picking up the kid or me?...it goes on and on.

This is why I like running. It's my time to think. If I run by myself I am often mulling over something PhD related. It used to be that this thinking would trigger some wild anxiety attack because I was so worried about the damn thing. But now, I enjoy it. Something shifted this fall, and I am enjoying PhDing again. I'm sure it had to do with getting data back and feeling invigorated with my topic again. I had a spell of about 2 years after Keawe was born where I just about burnt myself out on school (but that's another blog entry). It's not like that anymore, and that's a good thing.

PhD Update: Finished transcribing first round of journals. Closed second round of survey (and got more participants than I was anticipating - back to IRB). Scheduled the rest of my interviews for the WHOLE study for this week and next.

Running Update: Abs sore from Core Fitness class - but so worth it. Have run 4 days in a row with the longest run at 6 miles. Got some new kicks for all the extra miles I'm putting on.



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