the 22nd through the 25th i revised my written dissertation, submitted it to the graduate school, obtained the 5 necessary signatures, said goodbye to friends, and packed up my apartment. the 26th-29th i moved, hosted my parents till the 3rd of october, and began my new postdoc monday, the 5th...assuming i was superwoman??
preach AND practice. i preach self-care all the time. i remind friends and family to take care of themselves. i value self-care, and believe without it, we cannot support those around us. notice when you're overtired how you lose patience? when you're exhausted you dont want to pick up the phone? when you feel like you have a lame cold you can't keep your eyes open at work?
i try to practice self-care, and i have been taking care of myself (i thought), but i didn't plan out this transition well. now, on day three of my new postdoc, im already taking a day off. i had a hard time making this decision for three reasons: 1) i had already entertained the idea of a vacation and decided against it, 2) a fellow postdoc who also recently defended did not take any time off either (to my knowledge) and although she did not move geographically, she is doing just fine...what's my problem? 3) my new PI is ridiculously understanding and i want to prove to him i have a head on my shoulders...not off to one side.
my best friend/pseudo-sister called last night and after a few rings of staring at the phone, i decided to pick up. after talking this all out, i decided to take a couple days to myself. i communicated this with my PI, took a light jog this morning (1.5 mi) to get my blood flowing, showered, and came to starbucks to get a nice breakfast and plan my day. i feel like i need to get my life in order, still. im going to do that between today and tomorrow.
2 comments:
I think it's great you were able to take a few days off now. You need it to balance yourself out - it's hard going from one thing straight into another.
I know you - you'll impress the new PI with your amazing work ethics and intelligence in no time!
Enjoy your time to yourself!
lea,
i took time off, honestly, after i was done. yes, i did have a new postdoc to start, but found that i needed to NEVER work nights or weekends, and that i needed to sleep in every weekday for almost a year. i felt like i had to recoup for the damage i did to myself over the end of my phd. and i shared this "recoup" time with my colleague, who had finished her phd in philosophy at the same time as me.
bottom line: take as much time as you need. remind yourself that you just completed a heroic task. let yourself ease into your new gig. don't beat yourself up - redefine your new schedule, your new life.
lots of love to you. i owe you a decently long email, and i mean to do it.
take care. xoxo.
b.
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