Since my last post, things have come to a head. My stress levels had reached fever pitch and my workload was unmanageable despite various attempts to juggle it differently. So, armed with my to-do lists and a calendar I sat down to figure out how long it would take me to meet the various deadlines I have for research and practice. It soon became clear that working on my research part-time due to placement would prevent me from meeting the deadlines that I needed to this year to submit my thesis on time next year.
Having worked so hard all year only to find it was still not enough was stressful and incredibly frustrating. I wasn’t happy about it, but the only solution was to ask permission to pause my placement for a couple of months so that I could focus on meeting my research deadlines. Thankfully this wasn’t a problem. Of course, as soon as I had my plan of attack lined out for the next eight weeks and was feeling a bit less stressed, I got the flu and then some sort of infection. It took me about three weeks to start feeling like me again. However, I’m now making progress with my research and feeling slightly less burnt out though the future post-PhD is still a big scary question mark. Needless to say the last few months have been very hard and if it weren’t for the support of my friends, family (and lots of cups of tea), it would have been much harder still. Right now I’m just focusing on my research, trying to be kinder to myself and looking forward to two weeks off over Christmas.
Honourable Mentions 
This post really speaks to me. I have been feeling overwhelmed balancing research and prac, as well as work and have finally given myself the day off today and thought I would peruse blogs! Glad I found yours. It is so reassuring to hear a lot of people feeling the same way. Good luck and hope you take a rest over the Christmas period.
I am glad you are finding my blog useful. Good on you for taking a day for yourself, I know it’s easier said than done, but so important.
I will definitely be taking a break over Christmas. Thanks for your well wishes, all the best with managing research and practice and have a great festive season.