This week, I’ve been reminded of the saying, "feelings aren’t facts"- which, as I use it, means "your feelings are important, but they aren’t necessarily true". This is important to remember in the dissertation process (and in life) because, sometimes our feelings feel true. Why make the distinction? Because, during the dissertation process, you will have feelings that say, "this topic is dumb." "I’ll never finish", "I’m overwhelmed." "I don’t know what to do." even as you may also have feelings of excitement, interest, and enthusiasm (these are more likely early on, and seem to decrease the longer it takes to write the #*(&* thing). Anyway, when you feel down, depressed, or blue, you need to find a way of understanding that this is how you feel- right now- and that it’s important- but may not be true. Your topic is probably not dumb. You will definitely finish (if you do the work) and you can get help with being overwhelmed or not knowing what to do next. Remember, feelings don’t predict outcome. Feelings are not facts.
