Happy Halloween Guys! Before I start this post I’ve got an exciting update to share. I successfully defended my dissertation proposal this past Friday! Now I am officially #ABD (all but dissertation). Put plainly, the only thing standing in between me and my PhD is completing and defending the research I’ve proposed.
Now that I’ve successfully scaled that wall I thought it’d be nice to give you all a better look at what my days, particularly my mornings, look like. I am a creature of habit. I live off of having a routine. I find comfort in them, and they bring a sense of familiarity to what can be pretty unpredictable and chaotic days.
Having a morning routine allows me to start off the day on my terms. I am in control. I find that to be such an empowering way to start off my day. Read on to see what my morning routine looks like!
Wake Up: 7:15am
I get up at 7:15 during the weekdays. I use the bathroom, brush my teeth, and change in to my workout clothes. This all takes me somewhere between 10-15 minutes depending on how fast I move.
Workout: 7:30am
As you all know I work out from home. The beauty of that is I can be working out within 15 minutes from the time I wake up. I usually decide on what workout I want to do the night before. I like to give myself a couple of options just in case I wake up and I’m not in the mood for a particular workout or my body doesn’t feel up for it. My workouts typically last somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half.
Shower: 8:45/8:50am
After my workout I start boiling water for my tea and then I turn on the shower. My showers typically last between 10-15 minutes. They get longer as the temperatures drop. I usually spend the extra time trying to convince myself to get out (which is so hard to do because it feels so warm and cozy)! Once I’m out I go ahead and get dressed for my day.
Breakfast 9:15am
I try to switch things up with my breakfast, especially during the weekends when I have a little more time, but my standby is Kashi cereal with a granola bar from Trader Joe’s and some type of green or ginger tea. I go this route because it packs a big fiber punch. I find breakfast to be the best time to get a head start on my fiber requirements for the day because there are a lot of high fiber breakfast options. The cereal has about 13 grams of fiber per serving and the granola bar has 9 grams. That means by 10 am I’ve had 22 grams of fiber, which is nearly my daily requirement. Hard to beat.
I make it a point to eat my breakfast with no distractions. I sit down at my dining table with the television off and my phone on the kitchen counter out of arms reach. This gives me a chance to enjoy my breakfast and be mindful. My mindfulness professor would be so proud. I don’t do this for my other meals but one is better than none! Breakfast time is usually 20-25 minutes.
Emails and Writing/Reading: 9:45am
After I’ve had my breakfast and washed the dishes, it’s time to deal with emails. I go through my emails, send out any important ones, and respond to those as needed. Once I’ve caught up with emails I’ll ease into the day’s work by reading a paper on my saved list. I try to read earlier in the day as I’ve learned that I absorb new material best in the morning. If there are no papers that I need to read I’ll work on a section of my proposal. Even though I’ve successfully defended my proposal it is still very much a work in progress. My proposal will eventually become my dissertation so it will continue to transform until I’ve completed the research. I’ll read and/or write for a couple of hours before taking a break right around noon.
So that’s what my mornings look like. I wanted to share this with you all to hopefully encourage those of you who may be in grad school right now to work on creating a routine if you don’t already have one in place. Having this routine was a critical part of my success in passing my comprehensive exams and defending my dissertation proposal. Even on the day of my exams and my defense I largely stuck to this routine (although my wake up time was much earlier).
Your routine doesn’t have to look anything like mine, but it’s important to carve out time for things that are important to you. It’s your way of claiming ownership of your day. Particularly as graduate students, so much of our days can feel like they aren’t ours. We have research obligations, TA duties, special research lectures to attend, or we get roped into reviewing submissions for some conference. By being intentional and deciding that you will make time for things that serve you well, you are claiming ownership of your day. It can also serve to ground you because you have something consistent that you can rely on. I’ll tell you from personal experience when I was studying for comps over the summer that this was reassuring.
In saying all of this, I want to be of more help to those of you who are getting ready to go through that same rite of passage. Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a project that I think will be helpful for those of you who are starting to think about qualifying exam preparations.
This project came about after reflecting on my own comps experience. Earlier this year as I was thinking about comps and my proposal defense, I remember trying to find information on how to effectively prepare for it all. It seemed like such a massive undertaking and I knew that I needed a plan. I looked for books, did some searches online, and talked to quite a few students, but all of that left me with very little practical information on what I should do. Certainly nothing comprehensive (no pun intended). By compiling the information that I did learn and good ol’ trial and error, I developed a system that worked well for me. It helped me study and write effectively without feeling so overwhelmed. I want to share that system from start to finish with you to help make this a much less daunting experience. More to come soon!
For those of you who are headed out tonight, be safe and don’t take candy from strangers. Unless it’s gummy bears – they are delicious:)
I was so excited when I saw these bars as I was headed to the checkout at Target. It’s like the heavens opened up. Primarily because, as I mentioned earlier, it was so hard for me to find sweet potato snacks. When I saw these I knew I had to get them. With ingredients like sweet potato, pecans, maple syrup, and cinnamon I thought this would be a shoe in to be my favorite snack of the roundup. I didn’t detect much of any of those flavors though. Also, the texture of the bar seemed tough to me, almost like it was past its prime. I guess when they mentioned “bark” on the packaging they weren’t kidding. Nutritionally, these aren’t bad but i would have expected much more fiber. There are 230 calories per bar with 4 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber. Considering the taste wasn’t great, nutritionally they’re just okay, and they cost $6 for 4 bars, I’d pass on these.
First thing I tried was the Violet Vampire funnel cake from Gobblin’ Gourmet. It’s a blueberry infused funnel cake with powdered sugar, homemade blueberry pie filling, fresh whipped cream, and a white chocolate drizzle.
The egg roll tasted good but I didn’t detect that much of the bacon. For all of the hype and the price I had much higher expectations. Overall I don’t regret trying it but I would not get it again.
Fortunately the folks running it had it going like a well oiled machine, and the wait only ended up being a little under 20 minutes. Boy was it worth it. This was the best thing I ate hands down. It was udderly (get it?!) delicious.
In years past I’ve heard about Howling Cow being one of the highlights of the NC State fair. Come to think of it, in some of the news segments I saw I remember there being long lines so I should have known I’d have to wait. Again it was totally worth it. The guy in front of me was telling me how consistently great it is, and how he and his family always come and get this ice cream. I can see why.
This crab dip was the winner of best new food at the fair. When a dish wins an award like that it’s kind of demanding that you try it out to see why. After tasting it I thought it was really good. Award worthy, perhaps in the savory category. Considering the caramel apple ice cream also counted as a new food, I don’t think it beat that out. The dip was $10. Pricey, but again it’s fair food and it has crab in it so it’s to be expected.
When I got back I had a ton of water as well as some of this Kevita Tumeric Ginger kombucha drink. I like the taste of these Kevita drinks when I want an alternative to water that has some fizziness to it. I also like the kick it has with the tumeric and ginger in it.
After all that eating you’d think I went to bed that night feeling bloated but surprisingly I didn’t. I realized that I did a few things while I was at the fair that helped. For any of you who are planning to go to the NC state fair or any other fair, I have a few tips for you on how to mitigate any feelings of guilt.
In coming up with my list of foods to try, I prioritized foods that a) I knew I would only see at a state fair (if it was something I felt like I could get a restaurant, or say a specialty candy shop then I passed on it), and b) I would only see at the NC state fair. B was very important. Sure I would have loved to try a red velvet funnel cake but I’ve seen those before. What I hadn’t seen before was a blueberry infused funnel cake.
Three, don’t be afraid to throw away food that isn’t amazing. For me I’m really big on just being able to try different foods. If I can find out how something tastes I’m content with only getting a few bites. I only commit myself to finishing food that tastes really good. Think of the space in your belly as prime real estate. It’s limited so you want to reserve that space for the best. While I liked the blueberry funnel cake it wasn’t amazing so I didn’t eat all of it. You want to save room for the things that you’re really going to enjoy. For me this was the ice cream. It was incredibly delicious and I ate every last spoonful.
Outfit Deets: Top: Forever 21, Skirt: ThreadSence, Shoes: Target, Clutch: TJ Maxx
A part of the reason I was so stressed out was because I had convinced myself that the idea I had for my dissertation research wasn’t going to work. As a result, I spent a lot of time going down what turned out to be dead end research paths when I could have devoted more time continuing down the path I was already on, and thinking through ways to make my idea work.
I needed to commit. It was honestly as simple as that. Once I decided that I was going to bulldoze down this path if necessary, I was able to think through things that I saw as issues before. I was able to strengthen the justification and theoretical foundation for my research. It was kind of remarkable how the anxiety disappeared as a result.
Dress & Shoes: Forever 21, Bracelet: TJ Maxx, Clutch: Target
Needless to say, I’ve learned a big life lesson in the midst of all of this. Sometimes I can be just a smidge indecisive, but indecision can be paralyzing. You fear taking a misstep so you ultimately end up taking none. There will always be other choices we can make, other leads we can follow, and other ideas to pursue. There’s something empowering though about committing to something, and adopting the mindset that whatever challenges arise you will work around them. Keep that in mind as you go about the rest of your week.
Commit to something and make it great!