The post-PhD blues
I’ve mentioned it before, but after defending my PhD, I felt sad and experienced some “withdrawal” symptoms after being very focused on my PhD. The first paper I wrote after defending came together very slowly. I defended in June, still had until September on my PhD contract (but no project defined yet at that point), didn’t know if I’d be able to remain working for TU Delft (and fretted about it, a lot), and would only start my new job in November in Ecuador (and could pretty much do any research I wanted there, which was scary as well).
I wanted to know if my experience is in line with others, so I ran a poll. You can see the wake of this poll and the results here:
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[…] At the end of your PhD, you may expect to feel an overwhelming sense of relief and accomplishment. However, the reality for many PhD candidates is that the post-dissertation period can bring about unexpected emotions and a rollercoaster of feelings. I indeed have felt the post-dissertation blues, and I have since learned that I am not the only one. […]