It’s Friday today! Yay!
By the way, the image above is a reflection of my work with the exception of the finance and business elements in this stock image. I have the messiest co-working space table whenever I am there. I have a cup of coffee, lots of papers around, and of course my laptop is on whenever I need to do some writing.
I remember earlier this year when a church member asked me if I wanted to join a mission trip in August. I declined because I thought I would have submitted my dissertation by then. It’s now August and I am still writing my paper. Also, it is the family camp this weekend which my husband and I decided not to go. Asides from financial difficulties, it is also my reluctance over Christian camps. I gained more through small group conversations. I dislike the big groups as they are pretty draining sometimes.
Back to my studies this week. Two Mondays ago, I received an email from my faculty that postgraduate students have to fill up their e-progress report. I teared in the co-working space that I was working in. As much as I was able to accept that I have to extend my studies, but reminder of my extension of studies hurt and I have been doing my studies full time with no salary.
I am thankful that I am still functioning. Few months ago, I have spoken to my friend who has anxiety and has seek medical help. She said that I was just stressed and was able to function. I have also seen short interviews about people having depression and reading about depression; and their condition is worse than me.
For most days, I am thankful that I am able to just take the train to the co-working space and do work. Though there are days I am distracted, I am thankful that I am still functioning and still can overcome my work at the end of the day. That are my small wins everyday. I have been easily discouraged and the small wins are the ones that make me move forward.
My progress that I am celebrating this week is:
- Submitting my progress report on Wednesday. I was supposed to submit on Tuesday but I fell sick on Monday, hence it delayed.
- Joining skillshare premium for free for two months. This is one of the better platform for me as I wanted to improve my art skills so badly. I am still considering if I should pay for the premium after that.
- My husband sending me more articles in intertextuality which is a crucial aspect of my research.
- Finally finished my postcolonialism mindmaps. That took quite long because it is a hard topic to digest. Now I can continue writing the other sections better.
My struggles for today:
- Having to write another five (or more) quotes for the synthesis matrix especially intertextuality.
- Editing my literature review again.
- Restructuring my findings which is another Herculean hurdle in itself.
That’s my distraction post for the day.