Managing life events is hard at the best of times.
And this doesn't necessarily mean tragedy or loss... although I have suffered my fair share of these too. Even good life events, or 'good stress' as I have come to call it, can carry with them a substantial weight.
I thought this #LabSnap was a great visual for managing life events and changes underneath the cool exterior of a committed PhD student who has their shit together.
Often when we talk about work-life balance in a binary sense. I.e., in order to avoid burnout and maintain our well being, we approach tasks with the mentality of boxed items as either [work] or [rest].
But LIFE is work.
Planning a wedding (and all of the admin and stress that comes with it) alongside my PhD was honestly one of the most overwhelming periods of my life so far. But it has given me a really useful mentality to take forward to the PhD finish line.
And I want to share it with you.
I visualise my life as a pie. Not two sides of a see-saw. Stressful life admin is neither work work or rest. So I do not treat it as so. It fits into its own snug bracket and so the other slices of the pie have to adjust to accommodate this new category.
You can never overestimate the importance of a support network. I would not have gotten through this period without good friends, colleagues and my family.
Take stock of your workload. Remember your 'why'. When times get tough, a little perspective helps to prioritise the tasks that really matter.
Say NO. This is a hard one. It takes constant work. But declining opportunities is also important. My favourite phrase to say no gently (but keep the possibility open for later) is "my time is saturated right now. Can we revisit this later?"
The most important message is that life does not stop because you chose to do a PhD. Your PhD is a job. You are allowed hobbies, interests, holidays and life events alongside a job.
Always, @notbrainscience
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