Need a non-weight related pep talk

Kick yourself in the butt.

I just went back to school after taking a 12 year break. This is just for my undergrad. It doesn't matter what the employment prospects look like, you're doing this for yourself. You have to feed the dogs, but the yard can wait. Or hire a gardener if you're able. Since I've gone back to school the dust bunnies in the corners of my house are creeping into the rooms. I ignore them. I have something that I am focused on and dust bunnies are not going to distract me from my goal.

Allowing peripheral distractions to take over your thought processes (creating self doubt, undermining self confidence) is self-sabotaging - you know this. That would be a good topic for discertation. Maybe a new topic would energize you to the finish line.

Good luck to you. Take care.

I don't have a master's degree (yet) but I will share this with you.

Getting my undergrad was HARD. I went back to finish when my kids were young and my schedule went something like this: wake up at 5, get kids dressed and to sitter, go to work, work 8-10 hours, pick up kids from sitter, drop kids off at grandma's, go to class until 10, pick kids up, get them into bed, do homework, sleep about four hours. Lather, rinse, repeat.

By my last semester, understandably, I was pretty darn burned out. I didn't know what the hell I was doing this for anyway. What was I trying to prove? My last semester I took a sabbatical from work (an extraordinary benefit I got) at half pay so that I could go to school full time my last semester. I saved for three years for that sabbatical! Well during my senior audit I came up four credits short. Oh...then I REALLY wanted to give up.

I have no clue what it was in me that kept me moving forward. I credit God cuz it certainly wasn't me. All I wanted to do was sleep. I ended up going to my favorite professor and begging her to do an independent study with me. Doing a four credit independent study is highly unconventional so she had to get departmental approval. She did...but the caveat? I had to do four gargantuan papers (even better is that my subject was Toni Morrison).

Well I plodded through it. And it was manageable (sort of****IL that last paper. The kids got sick, I was sick, I was tired, I was stressed and before I knew it, it was three days before the final paper due date and I'd not started the damn thing. I had to write a thirty page paper in three days.

But again...something came out of me. This warrior woman of sorts. I asked the girls grandma to take them for a few days, packed a bag with some clothes and dry food and yes...I literally LIVED in the library for three days and I finished that paper. I delivered it at 11:59 pm on the day it was due.

So all that is to say, I get it. And for a moment I'd empower you to think about the other side for a moment. Think about how you will feel when you have your doctorate. That sense of accomplishment. Don't think about job prospects. Don't think about anything but how good you'll feel knowing that a) you did it and b) it's OVER! (for now...continuing ed is a beyotch, innit?)

You can do it. Hell, if I survived that horrendous period in my life, I KNOW you got this in the bag. I believe in you.

Thanks, Nik.  I applaud you for being able to finish your degree while also working and being a single parent.  Definitely an arduous task!

I got a 2-year Associate degree (A.S. in Computer Science) right after High School (back in the Dark Ages when programming was still done on punch cards, believe it or not!), then -- for various reasons -- did not complete my B.A. until 13 years later!  Then I completed two Master's degrees (both in completely useless fields in terms of earning a living) in 4 years... and then completed my Master's degree in counseling in 2006 (which took 2.5 years)... and I started the PhD in 2007.  Only the A.S. and my first Master's were done full-time, so that's a LOT of years of working and going to school... and, although having dogs to care for and having a house and yard to maintain is not as time consuming and demanding as raising two children, it has been a LONG road.  I think mostly I am just plain tired of juggling things all the time. 

You are right... if you survived THAT, I can get this damn thing done.
We are WOMAN, hear us roar !! 

Lora

Do you have any sort of deadline? I'm not totally sure on the PhD process (and I'm sure it varies by school) since I'm not quite there yet (and not sure if I'm going to go through with it since my options are pretty limited and all the schools are in Europe). i know deadlines are what kick me in the butt, so maybe if there aren't formal ones, make your own. write them down on a calendar to make them seem more official. 

I'm guessing you're like me and like doing the research, just hate actually writing about it?

Yes, for my program, there is a time limit on completion of the dissertation.  It is flexible enough to accommodate a short break or someone having some trouble with research, etc., but firm enough to guarantee that students are making good progress.  In unusual cases (e.g., significant (documented!) personal or family illness) you can petition for an extension.

I actually enjoy both the research AND the writing.  It has been a long road (following getting multiple master's degrees that kept me in school for a number of years), though, and I'm just weary and overly ready to be done with it.

Lora

 You're lucky! The writing kills me lol, I'd rather do more hands on things.