Nearing the finish line: an inventory of my sources of stress

Earlier this month, I formed my PhD dissertation committee and am now officially a PhD candidate as per the University of Tennessee registrar. I also had to fill out some paperwork, including signatures from my committee members and a list of all the courses I’ve taken to fulfill my degree program’s requirements. My student portal now labels me as a “late-stage doctoral candidate,” which is exciting to say the least.

But, as I feel like I keep saying, “that was the easy part.” I still have roughly a year before I defend and graduate, and it feels like a long road ahead of me. For my own sake I wanted to compartmentalize what, exactly, is causing me stress at this point with regards to my work, which is what this blogpost is for. I hope this insight will also be beneficial to other graduate students (and possibly undergraduates who are considering attending graduate school later on).

There seem to be two main sources of stress in my academic life at this point that I want to highlight.

The first is my absolute, raw passion towards the work that constitutes my thesis research. I want to try to figure out every little nook and cranny in my area of research, leaving no stone unturned. It’s kind of like trying to fill the Pokédex in any of the Pokémon games. While this passion is certainly a good thing, I need to be realistic: I can’t possibly figure out everything; the world of research is simply too vast to be entirely conquered alone. Moreover, I’ve realized…