Today I hit a wall.
I’ve been working through some of my research plans and I simply could not connect the dots. I have solid pieces of work here and there but I just could not get the connections to work. The connections seemed illusive and the most frustrating thing was that I knew the connections were there.
So, I took the metaphorical wall, and made it literal:
Sometimes that change of environment can make a big difference. Stepping back can help you seen new things and new connections. I always find the flexibility of some post-its and a wall invaluable, especially if it means getting away from the computer screen or a book.
Now the real reason I wanted to share my troubles today is found in the title of this post. While stepping back helped, what really made the difference was a simple message from @JaxBartram. I was venting my frustrations to her and she simply text back the following:
You’ve got to love the journey. Simple and straight it is not.
That one liner made me smile and somehow made it all better.
The doctoral journey is definitely not simple or straight.
But it sure as hell is fun!
I like the wall, although I choose to use a big white board and different coloured markers. Doodling is my way of getting stuff straight in my head. Hopefully it will still work when I start my EdD in September! The journey so far has definitely not been simple and straight, and by being the first in my institution to do an EdD that won’t change, but I am looking forward to it!