Walking on the moon

Can a PhD be one of the greatest things we have ever done and why? Plus, the Music Highlight

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

I guess we all feel the same more or less, but when I entered the PhD, I had no idea about some of the things I would experience. Some really good things that we would achieve as a community!

• Building a community online and offline too.

  One of the most beautiful things about the PhD journey is realizing that we are never truly alone. From conferences and classrooms to video calls, group chats, Substacks, and social media, we somehow find each other. We build friendships, collaborations, support systems, and communities that often understand us better than anyone else can!

• Learning a ton, and then learning a ton more from others!

  A PhD teaches us so much - but some of the greatest learning comes from the people around us. We learn from supervisors, colleagues, students, conference conversations, and even random late-night academic chats online. The PhD community constantly reminds us that knowledge grows best when it is shared!

• Finding that light in the tunnel, even when feeling isolated.

  There are moments during a PhD when the isolation can feel overwhelming. Somehow, through encouragement, kindness, shared experiences, or simply seeing someone else survive the same struggles, we find that little bit of light again! Sometimes hope comes from the smallest interactions.

• Failing and then getting up again when we think there is no end in sight.

  Rejections (oooh so many of them), revisions, failed analyses, difficult feedback - they are all part of the journey. Yet, what is truly incredible is how many people in academia keep going despite it all. We fall down, question everything, and somehow still get back up again. That resilience might be one of the greatest achievements of all!

It might sound like a slight exaggeration, but it is like our very own moon walk!

It’s not the title.

It’s not the degree.

It’s the community! And our collective achievements!

The Music Highlight

Another Saturday, another amazing Police song!

Fun(ny) fact: a few years ago I was at a Sting concert and once he started singing this, I sang so loudly that I think this was the reason that I couldn’t speak the next day 🙂 Thankfully, my students were very understanding!