Discouragement is a Bear

I have been reading a lot of dissertations recently, at least the introduction sections, because they give me a good idea about what is expected and how to properly structure a good dissertation. I have come to recognize two main themes in these dissertation papers. The first is that without the help of God, a good faculty committee, a loving a supportive spouse (if applicable) and family hardly anyone would have what it takes to climb this mountain and graduate with a PhD.

It is very important to surround yourself with people who support you and encourage you! In fact, the number one reasons I chose to go to the University of Utah was because of the encouragement and excitement of the faculty that I spoke with before I even applied. Other schools said things like "You are welcome to apply but you need to know that we only accept students with well thought out research goals and motives" or "you should come to campus and visit the faculty and school to see if it is a good fit before you consider applying". These are both valid points but they are not very enthusiastic and encouraging at the same time.

The faculty at the U of U were excited and encouraged me to apply and pointed me to the resources I would need to find success and made the decision so easy! I am very grateful to them for that!

The second thing that I have learned is that discouragement is a BEAR! When you are climbing a mountain, there are not many obstacles as ominous or frightful as a large bear standing on the trail staring you down.

This image has caused me to ponder quite a bit lately because not a single week has gone by in which I don't have one day of a good old dosage of discouragement! Discouragement comes in many forms. Sometimes it is physical discouragement due to sleepless nights and tired itchy eyes! Sometime it is mental and emotional discouragement that beats you down because you are not smart enough and don't have the quantitative skills that it takes. Sometimes it is what I will call social discouragement, or being discouraged because of your own perception of the other successful students and faculty around you and not being able to measure up.

So what do you do when there is a bear in your path???

You have a couple of options..

1. Wait and see if it leaves and then continue on your journey.

2. Use bear spray or a gun to harm the bear and hope it will run away and not kill you instead.

3. You can try to go around the bear and climb up some other way.

4. You can do nothing and let the bear kill you...which is the most ironic option of all because of how many students take this course of action. I suppose this is another good reason why it is so important to have supportive faculty and family members to knock some sense into you.

I have found that options 1 and 3 are what I choose to do most often. When I am discouraged I might just need to take a little break and sit down and have a snack in some shade off the trail and wait for the BEAR of discouragement to get bored and leave. This works well for the day to day discouragement of working so hard and feeling not up to the task. If the problem is larger than this then waiting is not going to do any good at all! You have to take one of the other three options!

Finding another way up the mountain and going around the BEAR is a good option because it involves less risk and you might find a better way up the mountain that others can learn from and follow. If you run into problems with a dissertation idea that you just can't move or solve in the time frame that you have, and that are not going to get bored and wander off, you just might have to go around the problem and keep moving forward. You are a PhD student and it is expected that you know how to blaze new paths and be innovative! Don't let the BEAR of discouragement eat you up and ruin everything that you are working to accomplish!!!