I think I will have to start keeping daily notes on what is going on with my PhD-ing, because by the end of each week, it feels like an era has passed. This week that may very well be true.
On the ‘secular’ side, I took Monday off to accompany my adult daughter to London Zoo. We did this because we needed a day off before lockdown starts again, and because she needed to draw some animals. Then, I spent the rest of the week stressing about the US election, in which my husband and daughter are members of the electorate. On Thursday night, lockdown started (again). On Saturday night, the era passed at last.
On the PhD-ing side, I feel like I did so much that the only thing that fits in a blog is the timesheet. And yet, I only put in 24 hours this week, which yet again placed a strain on my part-time availability. It breaks down like this:
- Between lockdown and the election result, I spent 6 hours in an online seminar on ‘Connecting, Communicating, Collaborating’. It took me way outside my comfort zone but in a good way. Getting more confident with speaking (and also better at it) is high on my training priorities.
- Around everything else, I spent 7 hours on required seminar-related work, which is taking me out of my comfort zone in a similarly good way at the moment, largely because I have to give a presentation on our readings next week.
- Last – and it really shouldn’t be least, I put in 11 hours on reading. This is the part that is in my comfort zone. I’m loving it, which is why it gets done whether there is time or not. Still, I am finding it hard to hold on to a feeling of coherence, when I have to snatch an hour here or there. Right now, I have a beautiful, exciting book sitting on my desk. It arrived on Saturday evening, but I can’t start it yet because I really must prepare that presentation. And as soon as that is over, I must start writing an essay for our ‘Core’ seminar.
What I would really like to do is dedicate two whole weeks to reading for my own project, followed by a one-week hiking holiday somewhere pleasantly temperate with my family. I’m not getting those things, but at least last week was a good week, if not a normal one. I consider the 11-week trauma streak to be broken.