Hi everyone!
It’s been a while, nearly 6 months actually…. oops. I didn’t mean to take this long of a break away from writing but life got in the way and adjusting back to being in Toronto and starting this next stage of my PhD got very overwhelming. But luckily the new year has brought about a little bit of a fresh start and I’m feeling in a much better place. I’m excited to feel in a position to want to talk about what I’ve been up to and to give you some updates on my PhD as I navigate being an upper-year PhD candidate (where has the last 3 and a bit years!)
So, what have I been put to in the last 6 months since my last update in early August? Well, a lot! Strap in because this could be a long one.
Madagascar: Holiday Edition
After I completed my fieldwork in early August, transported the sifaka faecal samples back to the capital and organised all the final paperwork it was finally holiday time! My partner Sam flew out to Madagascar in mid-August, I met him in Antananarivo and we started on our Mada Madness adventure together!
I plan to do a more extensive write-up of our time travelling Madagascar, reviewing the different places we visited, but just to give you a little taste of our time check out these photos!
The holiday was split into two, during the first half we visited Andasibe-Mantadia National Park in the east for a few days of hiking, exploring and seeing lots of lemurs - including the Indri and Diadema sifaka! Then for the second half, we flew up to Nosy Be in the northwest of the island to have a ‘beach’ holiday. We went whale watching, snorkelling with turtles and coral reefs and spent lots of time relaxing in the sun.
Adjusting to life back in Toronto
Once our holiday was over it was time to travel back to Toronto, move apartments and start my 4th year and first full semester at university in well over a year. Although I was quite anxious about being back in the rat race that is Toronto, I was very excited to get back to my boys (Darwin and Max below), who I hadn’t seen in months. Another thing I was both anxious and excited about was moving. Moving apartments is never a fun thing that people look forward to doing and organising, but I was pretty damn excited because we were moving from a basement to a condo with large windows and lots of closet space! Honestly, it’s the small things in life that make you happy.
PhD: The Next Steps
So, in September just gone I started my 4th year of my PhD (honestly where did the time go?! Last year was a whirlwind with fieldwork and travelling but how has it been over 3 years since we moved to Toronto?). This year is a big year for many reasons, it’s my first full year back in Toronto, aI’m now classed as up upper-year PhD candidate, but mostly because it’s the year I start analysing the data I collected and actually start to put this PhD together.
On paper, it doesn’t look like I’ve made big steps over the last few months with my PhD, but actually, I’ve made huge leaps and I definitely feel like I’m in a good position with having planned out my 3 research papers and started data analysis on the home range paper I’m doing). I think one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to overcome over the past few months regarding my PhD has definitely been facing my fear of statistics and using R. Ever since my undergraduate I have struggled with statistics and because of this, I’ve generally refused to do it or just ran away from it. Now however this was not an option so it was either face it and do the best I could or give up my PhD (a little extreme, but you get the idea). So, I faced it and honestly, I’ve smashed it and I’m so proud of myself! My new motto with statistics and my PhD as a whole is to ‘celebrate the small wins and victories’. Don’t wait for the big stuff to happen to be proud of yourself or to say well done, if you do you’ll be waiting for a long time.
beginning the next stage of my PhD, planning my three papers in a little more detail, data entry and starting data analysis (looking at home range- overcoming my fear of R and thriving!).
Not always plain sailing
Although overall it looks and sounds like things have been going well, around early October when the craziness of coming home, moving apartments and starting the new academic year slowed down my mental health started to take a bit of a downward spiral. As this isn’t something new and as I’ve been open with my past struggles with depression and still very current struggles with anxiety, I know the signs to look out for that tell me when I’m not doing good. Well, I started to see these signs.
When I turned 30 last year I told myself that this was going to be my time to really listen to my body, work with my brain not against it, and overall reflect on who I am, what I enjoy and how I look after myself. So, after a month or so of tracking my symptoms and how I felt I decided to book an appointment with the doctor to see what I could do to try and help.
Doctors confirmed everything I already knew and together we came up with a strategy to help me through the next few months. One of the actions in this strategy was to start on anti-depressant/anxiety medication. It’s been nearly two months since I started on this medication and honestly, I feel like they have changed my life 100% for the better and I feel like they have given me the mental space to be able to focus, reflect on my life and work on myself. Something that I’ve become very passionate and interested in over the past 6 months and I will talk more about it in a future update.
See ya later,
Coral