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Lifestyle

A Year Older and Wiser: 6 Thoughts from a 24 Year Old

30th April 2017 2 Comments

Last week was my 24th birthday…

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Kertu

Kertu Tenso

Estonian-born former Parisian living in Boston, United States. 💕 Feel free to follow me on my quest for infinite travelling. ✌🏻️

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Kertu Tenso | PhD lifestyle
Pro tip: How to make reading journal articles more Pro tip: How to make reading journal articles more fun? Just add “Harry Potter and the…” to the beginning of the title. Saw someone did this on Twitter and honestly, it works. If nothing else, it brings a smile to my face. 😂 ❓Write the title of an article that you’re currently reading using “Harry Potter and the” in the beginning of it.
I wish talking about mental health in academia wou I wish talking about mental health in academia wouldn’t be a taboo. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for all the small changes, and my school is incredibly supportive, but posting about it in my stories and receiving some condescending and ignorant messages made me see how we really have a long way to go. 😞 As most of you know, I am working on my PTSD, and anxiety and insomnia are the two main symptoms that I have. Evidently, the stress of PhD lifestyle has not been helpful either. The insomnia has been particularly brutal, because there are nights that I haven’t been able to fall asleep until 6am. This has an obvious negative impact on my productivity the next day. So, my therapist recommended for me to talk with a medical doctor as well, to possibly receive some medication that would help me navigate these symptoms and consequently sleep better. I know I am not alone in this. I posted a series of polls in my stories last week and almost 800 (!!!) of you responded. Here are the results: ❓“Have you ever struggled with mental health?” 94% (740 people) voted “yes”, 6% (50 people) voted “no”. ❓“Have you ever received mental health therapy? ”58% (459 people) voted “yes”, 42% (328 people) voted “no”. ❓“Have you ever taken any medications for your mental health? ”36% (294 people) voted “yes”, 64% (516 people) voted “no”. ❓“For grad students, do you think your mental health has worsened during your studies?” 84% (547 people) voted “yes”, 16% (105 people) voted “no”. Obviously, this isn’t a scientifically rigorous way of surveying people but the results are telling, that’s for sure. I wanted to share it to normalize this conversation and show you how you’re really not alone. People just don’t talk about it (which isn’t surprising considering the judgement that is out there). Your mental health is just as important as your physical affect, and poor mental health affects your physical health as well. 🤍
I needed this weekend. Sun, puppies, friends, wor I needed this weekend. Sun, puppies, friends, working out, sleeping in, studying outside with birds singing in the background. Don’t feel bad for taking time for yourself. One of the things we all need to learn in grad school is to advocate for ourselves and our wellbeing. ❓Did you do anything nice for yourself this weekend?
📚 PhD qualifying exam 📚 As many of you have 📚 PhD qualifying exam 📚 As many of you have probably seen from my stories, I’m currently preparing for my qualifying exam. I put together this simple post explaining what these exams mean, but it varies A LOT by country and program. This is what my exam will look like: 📌 We are given 7 journal articles to study in depth. At the exam, we are presented with a number of questions that require us to apply the specific knowledge we’ve learned in our coursework. 📌 The exam is broad in scope and the questions will vary from theory to research methods. 📌 It used to be a 8h sit down written exam but since the pandemic started, it has been changed to a 36 hour long take-home written exam. 📌 The answers are blind reviewed by faculty. In order to pass, I need at least 7/10 in every question. 📌 If I fail, I get a second chance to take the exam. We’ve had a number of people fail over the years. However, students who fail the exam a second time will be dismissed from the program. 📌 If I pass, I become a PhD candidate and start working on my PhD dissertation proposal. Defending the PhD proposal is the last step of the qualifying process. ❓Is there a qualifying exam in your PhD program? What does it look like?
The infamous question: “What do you want to do a The infamous question: “What do you want to do after your PhD?” 😬 It’s a lot of pressure. I have 3 more years to go but my supervisors are already telling me to build my future dissertation in a way that it would help me market myself after graduation. All I know is that I would (1) love to live in a big city (like NYC), (2) make good money (there’s no shame in that! Plus, I want to be able to support my family in Estonia if needed), and (3) enjoy my life a bit (11 years of studying will be enough). And maybe later in life, I would like to start my own company. I haven’t ruled out academia entirely, but I have certainly never had the dream of becoming a professor. Tenure pressure sounds horrible to me. ❓What do you want to do after your PhD?
Hello! I’m vaccinated. We’ll, I’ve been luc Hello! I’m vaccinated. We’ll, I’ve been lucky enough to be vaccinated for 5 months already, but this weekend is huge in MA because the state-wide mask mandate is ending (we had a state-wide mask mandate in both indoor and outdoor settings for over a year). Non-vaccinated residents are encouraged to continue masking. Today, 65% of people in Mass have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Half of the people are already fully vaccinated. 🎉 Thankful for the endless work of scientists, healthcare workers, essential workers, public health experts, and everyone else who’s been involved in this massive feat. However, I’m also hoping to see a wider global vaccine strategy from the Biden Administration. 🙏🏻The pandemic isn’t over until it’s over for everyone. ❓What’s the vaccination situation in your home state/country?
Self-care does not need to be fancy, expensive or Self-care does not need to be fancy, expensive or time-consuming. 🙅🏼‍♀️ Sometimes, simple things are enough: Call your family Walk around the block Get a good night sleep Ask for help if needed That’s enough. You’re enough. ❤️ ❓What’s one nice thing that you will do for your well-being today? For me it’s calling my family and working out.
Don’t forget to live a life outside of your PhD‼️ I’ve been there. Not doing anything else but working on my PhD. Never taking the weekends or evenings off. I don’t want that life anymore. I want to enjoy the rest of my 20s and make memories outside of my PhD as well. This weekend I went on a little day trip to picturesque Rockport MA. Swipe for a video. 😊 ❓What fun/relaxing thing did you do this weekend?
I’M GOING HOME THIS SUMMER AHHHH 🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪 Being an international student is hard enough but Covid has kept me away from my family for particularly long - 2 YEARS (since the summer of 2019)! I legitimately cried happy tears when I booked my ticket this morning. So so incredibly excited. 😭❤️ ❓Has Covid kept you away from your family?
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