{"id":2487,"date":"2017-11-18T22:34:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-18T22:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=2487"},"modified":"2017-11-18T22:34:13","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T22:34:13","slug":"phd-patiently-headed-downhill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2017\/11\/18\/phd-patiently-headed-downhill\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD \u2013 Patiently headed Downhill?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not a secret that grad school might be dangerous for mental health. In recent years people started to talk about it openly, numerous studies on this topic have been done (eg. on suicides<\/a> or depression<\/a>). The awareness of mental health is rising, which definitely makes it easier to get help when needed. However, this isn\u2019t the full story.<\/p>\n

A few years ago I started to consider a possiblity of pursuing a PhD. So I googled around \u2013 big mistake. Phrases such as \u201cgrad school mental health\u201d returned thousands of websites suggesting that the coming years will be filled with pain and tears. Basically, in the best case scenario I\u2019d quit before obtaining my degree; in the worst, I\u2019d commit suicide. Not the most optimistic view. I decided to give it a try anyway, but I\u2019m sure many potential students resigned from their dreams, worried about their future.<\/p>\n

But the reality isn\u2019t so dark. In fact, my experience with grad school is completely opposite. I started my PhD course struggling with a serious mental illness, so if Google was right, I should have gone completely downhill. However, pursuing a PhD at Imperial was a major factor in my recovery. And I\u2019m sure that everyone can have such a positive experience \u2013 but that requires some effort. Here\u2019s what I learned during my time at Imperial.<\/p>\n

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Last year I took part in the musical with our Musical Theatre Society. So much fun!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PhD is NOT your life. <\/b>Research requires a lot of time and energy, but spending all days and nights in front of the laptop\/in the lab is a straight path to mental problems. Remember the famous \u201cAll work and no play makes Jack a dull boy\u201d<\/a>? Our brains have limited thinking abilities (at least mine does), so after long hours of trying to prove the same bloody inequality or debugging the code you might be better off going for a walk with a friend or rehearsing a play with your favourite society than trying to understand a difficult paper. Trust me, I\u2019ve tried.<\/p>\n

Speaking of societies, make sure you have a hobby<\/b>. A non-academic hobby, within a society or on your own, as long as you truly enjoy it. For example, when research is too much to handle, I go to Blyth Centre<\/a> in Blackett and play piano. Or go for a run. Or call a friend. Chances are that after I return to work, I\u2019ll get a new idea.<\/p>\n

But if I don\u2019t, it\u2019s not the end of the world. In fact, more often than not I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing \u2013 or my supervisor shows me that I had absolutely no clue, even though I was so proud of my \u201cachievement\u201d.<\/p>\n

PhD is a constant failure.<\/b> Which doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re a failure. <\/b>Research is all about trying a thousand of things that don\u2019t work only to succeed for the thousand first time. That\u2019s why it\u2019s crucial to have something outside of academia, so that we don\u2019t base our value on our results. If I did, I would seriously feel like the most stupid person in the world, because whatever I try, it fails \u2013 until it doesn\u2019t. By the way, these moments when we actually manage to fix this annoying bug in the code are worth all the struggles. Seriously.<\/p>\n

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Nutrition (pizza!) and friends – a recipe for happiness in the maths department<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ok, so you know now how important free time is. How do you spend yours? Playing computer games? Watching Netflix? Fine, as long as you make sure to spend some time with friends and family. PhD can be a very solitary job, especially in subjects such as maths, where we don\u2019t even need to leave our bed (no labs needed). No matter how introvert you are, you need people<\/b> as well. You need to talk to someone, laugh with someone, cry with someone. For this reason I strongly recommend to work in the office, even if you technically don\u2019t need to. But my office mates make my days brighter, it\u2019s great to know that someone sitting next to me is going through the same thing, struggling as well, but not giving up. And that it\u2019s only one hour till noon when we\u2019ll go and get lunch together, exchange the lastest gossip and let our brains rest for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

Ah, lunch, I almost forgot about another important thing \u2013 take care of your body. It\u2019s easy to forget about nutrition, sleep or exercise. I definitely don\u2019t mean eating salads, going to bed at 9 pm and hitting the gym every day, because it\u2019s just another way of putting a pressure on yourself. Eat whatever makes you happy, sleep when you\u2019re tired and move when it feels good <\/b>\u2013 just don\u2019t forget to do that, no matter how much work you have to do. We\u2019re not just brains, we\u2019re human beings.<\/p>\n

And when things get hard, ask for help<\/strong>. Yes, it\u2019s difficult to say \u201cI\u2019m struggling, could we talk?\u201d – but that\u2019s the only way out. THE ONLY WAY. Talk to a friend, a family member, your supervisor (yes, they care about you as a person, not only about your results \u2013 at least they should) or a professional (remember about free counselling services<\/a> at Imperial). You\u2019d be surprised how much a single conversation can change your life.<\/p>\n

Pursuing a PhD can be a great challenge for your mental health \u2013 but it can also a great experience that will help you thrive. PhD doesn\u2019t need to mean \u201cPatiently headed Downhill\u201d. It can turn into \u201cPerfectly happy Days\u201d. It\u2019s all up to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not a secret that grad school might be dangerous for mental health. In recent years people started to talk about it openly, numerous studies on this topic have been done (eg. on suicides or depression). The awareness of mental health is rising, which definitely makes it easier to get help when needed. However, this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1026,"featured_media":2488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[385,268,191443,148187,625,163723,127784,270137,127029],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-imperial","category-life","category-life-advice","category-life-at-imperial","category-phd","category-potentially-actually-useful-stuff","category-practical-advice","category-staying-healthy","category-university-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1026"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2487"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2494,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2487\/revisions\/2494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}