Love your PhD

My last few blog posts haven’t really been filled with how my life as a PhD student is all fun and games …. I started writing this blog to give ‘advice’ and talk about PhD life. Unfortunately I fall into the same boat as a lot of people on the planet in that I find it somewhat easier to moan about what I am doing rather than shout about how good things are.  If you ever met me in real life, away from this blog you would find that I am (mostly) a happy positive person.

I hear a lot of people moaning constantly about how their PhD is AWFUL.  Most information on the internet seems to be about how rubbish life is as a PhD student. Whether it is supervisor issues, lack of money or struggling to write a thesis – you can find any problem under the sun on the internet, written by a poor PhD student somewhere. It seems like a constant barrage of why PhD’s are rubbish. I do admit I don’t wake up every single day and immediately shout to everyone I see about how much I LOVE MY PHD.  But, when I do take time out to think about what I am doing, I realise how much I really enjoy it. I get to spend my days researching, reading and investigating a topic that I love. I think of my PhD and biology in general as a great big puzzle and I am (hopefully) putting some of the bits together with my research. Plus there are tonnes of opportunities that open up (conferences, meeting people to name just a few) whilst you are doing a PhD. Not every day is fantastic, it does have its problems, but would I rather be doing anything else? No.

I think people are too quick to say how rubbish PhD s is and how horrible life is as a PhD student. But really, if you are granted the opportunity to do a PhD in a topic you are interested in you are extremely lucky. Lots of people want to do a PhD but can’t and plenty of people are stuck in jobs which are far harder work than being a PhD student– so make the most of it. Unless there is a serious problem within your PhD I think you should try to learn to love and enjoy what you are doing as much as possible. If you are struggling trying to remember why you are doing it, take some time out and think about the good points, think about the  opportunities and remember why you are doing it. It’s your life, it’s your project and most importantly, you chose to do it, so – ENJOY IT!!!