Hello Stephanie,

I’ve been there, and can relate. I think one of the most important things is keeping yourself healthy at the same time while getting the thesis completed. I remember when I was completing my thesis it was hard to eat and sleep properly (due to stress), so please don’t neglect those two areas. When I was stressed about my project and had to cry, I just let myself cry, and also journal-ed my stress.

Yes, it’s understandable that when you took a break you’d also mentally berate yourself because you could’ve worked on your thesis, but sometimes the more you force yourself to do something, the more ‘stuck’ you may feel. You’ve done well scheduling some ‘me time’ with your cooking, walks, etc. Do you have other friends also working on a thesis? How have they coped? My experience with my friends was that when we took a coffee break, we vented out everything that went wrong with our projects and it made us feel better afterwards.

Things to lighten my mood:

– Collect motivational quotes and songs
– Breathe deeply and believe it will all be worth it in the end

All the best for the success of your thesis and do take good care!

Hana

Dear Stephanie:

I recommend taking the long-term, big picture, realistic approach: anxiety is not going away anytime soon. It may seem that it is dependent on the situation at hand, the thesis, and that if only there was no thesis to be done, life would be peaceful and calm. But there will be other challenges, as there were before the current one. There will be times of relative calm between the challenges.

To deal with and manage anxiety, it takes a long term plan, an ongoing execution of a plan. The plan may include competent psychotherapy and the learning of emotional-regulation skills (some of those you are already using).

A trip to Greece can be a delightful break, one you need very much.

anita