Medications for A PhD Journey

PhD is concentrated Life and Life is diluted PhD. Every PhD must go through the toughest terrains by building his/her own paths. One sees no definite way, no direction, no goal, no meaning. Everything going to be all alone.  It's not meant for everyone. You got to have a hell lot of patience. PhD is not about reading a book - writing an exam on it and getting some good marks. No! ABSOLUTELY NOT.  If you're a topper in university, then don't think you'll fit in well here. Stamps can help you get a seat to some extent but to thrive here, you need to have the patience to keep that patience on. 

Failure is not just common in PhD, but it's mandatory. You'll fail without writing an exam. You'll fail without even trying sometimes. You'll fail before you even start the experiment. You'll fail to talk to people. You'll fail to convince your supervisors. You'll also fail to convince your parents. You'll fail to maintain your friendship. You'll fail to manage your emotions. You'll start seeing failure in every part of your life. You'll see yourself becoming more asocial. Being in isolation for weeks is familiar to a PhD. You'll hardly get to see any success in your research. When you do, people will challenge you, they try to prove that whatever you've done is garbage. Each one of us even struggles to convince even our tiniest successes. You'll see politics. You'll see favouritism. You'll see many things which none of us wants to see. 

Yes, it's not an ideal place at all. It's wholly natural and practical. 

Then, naturally question occurs to our mind - is it worth doing it? 

It's up to the individual to decide. 

Some people accept failures and just move on. Some get demotivated. Some leave the programme. 

 "PhD is not about achieving great things. It's all about creating a piece of information."

Until masters, we have been trained to apply such pieces of information to solve a problem. Whereas, in PhD, we work towards creating small pieces of information. You don't have to be super talented here. Unfortunately, our education system has not taken any active steps to deal with such things. But, No worries. 

Research is scientific gossip. A successful scientist knows precisely how to gossip about science. First, you observe. Secondly, you'll start gathering information. Thirdly, you'll chat. Meanwhile, it becomes a piece of information to people. At last, you'll see whether this gossip is true or not. Scandals need to be always useful. Sometimes, these scandals are taken on to the table out of curiosity - known as open-ended research. These gossips seem exciting but not easy. Then how to handle these failures during such gossipping? 

Look! You can't avoid failures for sure. No matter what you do. Failures in research are inevitable. Unaccomplished days/weeks/months/years for inevitable. Demotivations are quite common. Self-doubt is obvious. One must pass through these times. That's the fun part. You just can't say NO to this fun part. 

Instead, accept these facts before you enter into PhD. Have no or minimal expectations from the system (Remember! You're also a part of the system). You will not start from scratch but from the dot. 

Mood swings are common in the system. Get used to mood swings before you enter. These mood swings could prevail for an hour or a year. It's on your luck. 

Stop comparing your research with others. Everyone is different. 

Bookish knowledge alone will not help you.

Bookish knowledge alone will not help you.

Bookish knowledge alone will not help you.

Keep on communicating with different people (Non-research). Believe me, unconsciously, it keeps your motivation up. Go and talk to unknown people in a market like fruit vendors, fish vendors, a hotel waiter, a kid, cleaners, construction labours and many. It keeps your brain active. You'll never forget to communicate with others. It gives you a kind of accomplishment. Don't think you're superior if you're a PhD. No, you're not. You'll realise this during PhD. Communicating with common man helps you to activate your common sense. It engages your mind and body. 

Be in a group. Make some friends. Trustworthy friends. Isolation is what most PhDs chose and suffer. Don't do that. Spill out the anger, frustration whatever you have in front of that group. It reduces stress to a great extent. Isolation doesn't bring any success. Instead, it harms a lot. 

The system expects you to not be in a relationship. Be in a relationship. Life should move on along with your research. PhD should be part of your life, not life itself. 

Don't lose contact and relationships with existing people. I understand entirely that non-PhDs would never ever understand the pain of PhDs. Let it be. Don't convince them. They're in a completely different world. Try to be part of that world in a day for some time. 

Never forget to attend the family and friends functions. It's going to be a bit humiliating, but that's fine. Do it. Don't just socialise with research mates. It'll kill your social sense. 

Change your studying style not a lifestyle. Play sports. Play with your kids. Spend time with your spouse and parents. 

Having a healthy lifestyle in a research career is not a sin. The system convinces you that, having a healthy lifestyle like every other common man affects your research. It is utter nonsense. Don't fall in such traps. If it was so, then look around, what they're achieving. So, having an isolated lifestyle won't bring success. Instead, better be what you're. You can only concentrate well on research, only when all other needs of your life are fulfilled. 

 Be a worthy and loyal friend to your friend . 

-SB