Taking Stock

There are two times a year that I usually find it interesting to stop and take stock of my situation. One is New Year's Eve and the second is my birthday. I don't really celebrate my birthday anymore, but I do like to do one or two things to mark the day. This year I will be going for a jog, having brunch with friends, reading whatever I want and maybe watching some "crap telly" as it is called on my new favorite Mystery! show.

These are all pretty basic things, but they represent gifts to myself. I want to jog because it is an example of how healthy I remain, and it also reminds me that I have to participate in my own health. Health maintenance isn't a passive process and as a nurse who recommends healthy lifestyle changes to people, I have to also be an example of those behaviors.  Eating brunch with friends reminds me that I am not alone in either my situation or my physical location. Finally, reading and watching TV may not seem like that much of a gift to myself, because I still do those things (though much less frequently than before I came back to school), but today I am going to do them without feeling any guilt. Today, I am going to try to not focus on what else I should be doing while I'm reading or watching TV and instead just read or watch TV.

Later on today, I am also planning to take a look at the remaining weeks before school starts and set some deadlines for my summer goals. I've been having a harder time than I expected re-acclimating to the PhD process since I returned from my vacation. I'm hoping that I can correct some of this by establishing a bit more structure. (I love planning and making lists - it is so fun to imagine what I might accomplish!)

To make my day perfect, I'm also planning to spend a fair amount of it with my new kitten, Boris, in my lap!

I'm off to have a wonderful birthday! I hope that everybody out there has a great day too. :)

Summer School

There have been lots of new developments since my last post. First, I've started my research residency. Second, we adopted a new kitten named Boris. And finally, I seemed to have started having panic attacks. And no, I don't think these are all connected...much. Maybe I should talk a little about each one separately...

My research residency is at a wonderful, wonderful place! Amazing research is performed there and I am soooo lucky to be there, even in my limited role. I've only been in for one week and already I love it. Right now my residency isn't particularly well-defined, but I'm expecting a more narrowly focused project or area to eventually  emerge. For now, I read a lot, spend a lot of time feeling pretty intimidated, and attempt to absorb any of the intelligence that just seems to be floating around the office!

After a long period of mourning for our companion animal, KitKit, we have adopted a new shelter kitten, Boris. He is very sweet and really cute. However, I had totally forgotten how *crazy* kittens are! I'm putting a picture of him after this paragraph:

Boris, 12 weeks old

Hopefully, in the next few months, he will stop chewing cords and start sleeping more at night. Until then, I will keep unplugging everything in my apartment at night and sleeping with earplugs!

Finally, my new and weird pseudo-panic attacks began last week. I have no idea what they are or why they are occurring. Basically, I start feeling really sweaty and panicky and short of breath and then it passes. It only happens when I have to speak in front of a group or when I'm in high-stress situation. I am hoping that they go away. Soon. I do think that they are a result of stress, but why they would start after I have just returned from a vacation doesn't make much sense to me. I kind of think that they might be my brain's way of protesting my return to work and school.

Anyway, things are going very well in general. Once I've spent a little more time in my research residency, I'll write a post with some more information on research residencies.Talk to you soon!

I'm back!

I arrived back in town yesterday and I already feel the need to jump back into work! The time off allowed me to clarify my goals for this summer in relation to the program. So here they are...

My goals for this summer:

1. Research residency
2. Find a data-set to use
3. Submit two papers for publication
4. Critical literature reviews on two possible dissertation topics
5. Finish my presentation preparation for the conference in October
6. Catch up on my nursing journal readings

I have a meeting this week on my research residency, and I'm in contact with someone regarding a possible data-set (after trying to contact three other people and getting no response...). Also, one of the papers to submit only needs edits.

I'll keep you updated!

I thought that I would close with a picture from my summer vacation...