After writing on my dissertation for at least 30 consecutive minutes every day for nearly five months, my writing streak finally died. The feeling of relief was immediate—it was as if a huge burden of stress was instantly lifted from my shoulders. I relaxed, slept, recovered from surgery without guilt, and even decorated the Christmas tree. It was wonderful!
Unfortunately, joy built upon false pretenses isn’t true joy. It wasn’t long before my feelings of relaxation were marred by a quiet voice whispering “write…you should be writing…you’re off work for only 3 weeks, and are wasting this wonderful opportunity to make great progress on your dissertation.” I tried to argue with the voice, reminding it that taking a few short days off was perfectly acceptable, and that I had worked hard for the last few months and had earned a short break. I even played the “poor me” card, noting that I had been sick for months, and that sick people needed to rest and avoid stress. None of my arguments worked. As the days went by, instead of going away, the little voice just got louder.
Finally, resigned to the fact that I was going to lose the argument, I opened my writing log file to assess the damage. I was shocked to see that I had not touched my dissertation for an entire 16 days. I really didn’t think it had been longer than a week…how did the days slip through my fingers so fast?
So, now I have a 16-day hiding-from-my-dissertation streak. How long do you think I can keep it up?
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