Monday, June 01, 2009

No Fear

In the Nineties I often saw stickers on the back windshields of cars reading, "No Fear." Somehow I think it has something to do with "NIN" stickers (Nine-Inch Nails?), since I usually saw those coupled together. I have absolutely no idea what the hell those stickers meant, other than that Nine-Inch Nails was a rock group. I write this paragraph only to clarify that the title of this post has nothing to do with those stickers.

Man can I spin the bullshit or what? I must be writing a dissertation!

Anyway, this post serves as a reminder to myself that I am officially over any fear whatsoever of finishing this dissertation. I'm not trying to get over confident here. Rather, I'm just being realistic. Completion is now just a matter of finding the time to finish writing, obey the commands of my committee (note my dry humor) to finish it off adequately, and turn the damn thing in.

I am extremely fortunate that I have a chair who a) wants me to finish and b) provides me with constructive, challenging feedback that helps me improve. Her feedback is likely going to kick my ass, and the rest of the process toward finishing up may very well suck. However, the dissertation is going to be completed. There are no more questions. There are no more grades. Just an ending.

Now, the challenge is finding the time...

1 comment:

Gibsyn said...

As you well know, its making the time, not finding it. You have no lost minutes to collect; just pushing things that currently are a top priority (as well they should be) temporarily down the list.

I have recently discovered I have to WRITE the word EXERCISE on my to-do list every day in order to make the time to do it. It seemed so lame. Of course, I had always wanted to 'get to it' but everything that was so important I had to write it down must get checked off first and we know what happens with that strategy. I've lost 15 pds so far (which was dissertation writing weight gain, I'll have you know). The dissertation does have its side effects. Wonderful to hear you're doing it!