Anyway, I'm back in Swansea now, jetlagged and excited to get back into things. This year's going to be crazy, as I mentioned, but I think (I hope?!) I'm ready for it. I have to submit my thesis by December 2012, which is both terrifying, as it requires writing a thesis, and exciting, because I'm really looking forward to whatever is going to happen once I'm finished with all of this. The question of what I was going to do next came up frequently over the holidays, which is understandable but also somewhat frustrating. I've been trying to keep a fairly open mind about jobs and plans post PhD, and while I have a lot of ideas, I have no real expectations as to where I want to be or what I want to be doing directly afterwards.
I've been extremely fortunate up to this point in my life in that opportunities seem to present themselves when I get close to the end of a phase of my life, and I'm hoping/praying that this trend continues. When I first started university in 2001, I had planned on going on to med school and becoming a doctor. I realized fairly early on that that plan wouldn't pan out, and one semester a geography class was the only course that fit into my random 'keeping my head above water' schedule; it turned out to be my favourite course of all, and lead me in a direction I'd never considered. I hadn't planned on doing an MSc, but the chance came up right when I finished my BSc, and as a result I was able to travel and do some of the most interesting work with some of the best people I know. Similarly, a job filling in during a maternity leave became available exactly when I finished my MSc and wasn't sure what to do next, and while that job was beyond frustrating at times, it also taught me a lot about myself and what I could handle. The chance to move to the UK for a PhD literally fell into my lap when that job finished, and it's another chance I'm glad I took - while I feel like I got off to a bit of a rocky start, I have definitely come to love my life here.
All I mean to say by all of that, is that so far nothing has worked out according to any of my plans, and ultimately things have worked out better than I could have anticipated. So I've decided that rather than have any set plan, I'm just going to keep my eyes open this year and see where life takes me. Not in a crazy hippie kind of way - I do have ideas for jobs I'd like afterwards, I just don't have my heart set on any one thing in particular, so in that sense I'm going to keep an open mind.
As well as keeping an eye open for various jobs and opportunities, I'm focusing on getting fit this year - I turn 30 in April, and that, combined with the thesis and everything, it just seems like it's time to find a good lifestyle that will keep me energetic and fit and happy for the foreseeable future. So! My goals (I won't say resolutions, because if I do I won't follow them - I have a horrible track record!) for this year are:
- run 3 to 4 times per week
- run Forest of Dean 10k in < 1 hour (May 26th!)
- finish hiking the Three Peaks (I've only done Snowdon - I must do Scafell and Ben Nevis!)
- stop eating like 6 adult males and start eating like 1 adult female (However, I should be clear that I will not cut out anything from my diet -I don't know if it's possible to live without bread, cheese and chocolate, and all diets seem to exclude these items...but I am going to try to eat less of things. That seems reasonable. Especially if I want to ever be able to buy a pair of boots that fit over my calves. Blasted German man calves...)
I have other goals for the year, but these are the ones I'll probably end up talking about most, so I thought I'd share them here. I'm off to a decent start I think, I went running this morning and I'm planning to go again tomorrow...we'll see how long I can keep it up!
Good luck with any and all of your goals and resolutions - and I hope 2012 is a great year for you :)
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