Originally Posted by
pdlamb
I told both my children, "If you're going to graduate school, write down why you want to go to grad school BEFORE YOU START. At some point, you're going to wonder, 'why am I here?' and having the answer written down will help you get through those times." Neither one did it, or even remembers me telling them (but my wife does!).
This is very good advice. Had I not such a thing, my life would much easier fall into the mood wgscott's comic on page 1 describes - taken as written. And: only purpsue a PhD, if you have something that gives you meaning and(/or) extreme joy from going for it. That can come at different times and from different sources.
Certain elements of biking have become a counter-balance to my PhD life. It is extremely important to have something that can help balancing this highly one-sided style of working. Cycling and working in a volunteer bike shop is one element of it.
@
Leebo and others with a similar comment ('just go for a few days'): this is what happened this weekend somewhat. I started this thread, because it was the only week I could squeeze out to take time for rest and a week-long tour felt super stressful in that framework. In the end, I did a (metric+imperial)/2 - century to the next big city towards the end of that weekend and cycled back - decided a few hours before leaving. Visited people there.
There were touring plans with a friend in May which did not end up being realized because two individuals are twice as complicated as one - so to speak. Waited for the situation to get better, but it never did. Now, it has gotten difficult to squeeze in that tour (~1.5 weeks at a fun pace) before winter. I will have to live with waiting for it until next year.