post-PhD slump

[bibliomania]

My award has just been confirmed, and people are expecting me to leap around joyfully, but it's all a bit underwhelming. Is that it and was it worth it? From googling, this appears to be a known phenomenon (and applies to people finishing marathons as well).

I'm still in the same job I was in all along, and I'm not particularly trying for an academic job. I have some ideas about how I can do further work in the NGO sector following on from my research, although I can't implement those plans immediately due to family commitments. This means there is no big sense of momentum to replace the PhD, just fretting about getting some articles out. So it's all a bit flat.

Anybody else want to share their experiences of the post-PhD blues?

[Closetlibrarian]

Oh yes, I remember this well - despite it being over 10 years ago now. It's a version of what we used to call 'post-paper-partum blues' when I was a PGR. That deflated feeling when you turn something in that you've been working on. Even more so with a PhD.

I found the whole finishing thing not only massively anticlimactic, but also quite traumatising. This thing I'd been working towards for so long was done. That I had achieved the thing that had been my driving goal for 4 years left a big hole and I felt very unmoored for about a year. Not helped, in a way, by me getting a permanent post at the same time as finishing. Thoughts such as 'all that, for this...?' went through my head quite a lot.

Hang in there. It's a big milestone and there's bound to be a fair amount of emotional fall-out that goes along with it. Be kind to yourself and try to take the pressure off, if you can.

[Halimeda]

Sympathies, OP. I remember this. My boyfriend took me out for a lovely lunch and champagne after my viva, and I went home and cried and cried. Yes, it’s a massive slump. It’s probably no help to be told that this is as inevitable a part of the PhD process as supervisions and getting nervous before your viva. But try not to panic — it’ll pass.

[bibliomania]

Thanks, both. 'all that, for this...? sums it up perfectly. I'm at least enjoying the fact that I can do other things at the weekend!

[PhDone]

Haha I specifically searched for this as I've been feeling the same thing...
Kind of "now what"?...

[UpTheDuffWithOnlyASatnav]

Love your username! Yes, this is absolutely so common - a colleague of mine even pulled out of an interview for her absolute dream postdoc. It passes, though. Hang in there.

[bibliomania]

Hi PhDone - a fellow sufferer! Have you started something new since finishing? On the upside, I'm enjoying the fact that I can get outside at weekends and have thrown myself into walking long-distance paths. I need to get back into my body after being in my head so long. My graduation is next month, so I'll just try to enjoy it and avoid gazing into the abyss (because it might gaze back at me).

[PhDone]

I'm employed part time teaching only, so that kind of helps, although it means it's really hit me now that term has ended and I literally have nothing to do!
So I'm applying for lots of jobs, grants and fellowships... trying to distract myself with my colour coded spreadsheet lol!

[PhDone]

... and I actually shuddered when I read "it might gaze back at me"!