Back in 2019, I found myself talking with a conference attendee’s PhD supervisor from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, who was then trying to convince me to pursue a PhD, saying it would push me to become someone I never thought I am capable of being. At the time, the idea of pursuing PhD was an over-the-moon dream, given my return service obligations which pretty much kept me tied in my home country—allowing me to hone my research skills and increase my local network, but limiting my career because there were no regular positions for researchers like me. He also shared his experience while in his PhD studies, where he kept thinking about his research even on vacation with his family! I didn’t think it was his inability to separate work from life, but I think what he is trying to say is that doing his research becomes a central part of who he is. And that’s why I am writing this blog post.
Because since I started my onboarding at the FAST Lab, and formally introduced as a PhD student at Western University, all I could tell my husband every time he comes home from work are the research ideas that I would want to do—and don’t know yet how to make the ideas work—which reminds me of the RMIT professor I met six years ago. He’s right. My research ideas are starting to become a space I am shaping my life around. Is it a bad thing? Maybe—if I am still an enthusiast of the work-life balance, which by the way, was a phase in my 20s when I wanted to exert choice over how to spend my hours instead of being dictated by employment that saw me as disposable. Okay, so back to my research.
I am still on my 2nd day as an officially enrolled student, and I can already feel that my research is taking over my interests, and surprisingly, I am totally okay with it. It’s probably the spirit of my 30s encouraging me to settle into doing something I am interested while hoping for a future-reward of contributing new knowledge for the betterment of future generations. And where I am now is also its version of work-life balance where I am free to build my life and shape how my days look, while having the goal of producing practical science as the purpose of my enterprise.
For me right now, work-life balance is making time to read, process what I learn, write about it—including this blog, which is now classified as another interest to support my well-being—and document/publish it as the product of all the hours I’ve poured into it. Now I am certain that I will be rambling here from time to time, so I hope you bear with me, if reading stuff like this humors you. And even when I bore you the way I think I am boring my husband with all the research ideas that are spilling out from my brains here and there, I’m still grateful about you being here, bearing witness of my journey as I become a PhD-candidate, and soon, a PhD-degree holder.
For now, let me ramble. 😅
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