One of the best skills you can learn during your PhD is how to be more loving to yourself.
Self-love is the art of showing yourself the same kind of love and support you show to friends, partners and loved ones. It means being a friend to yourself and doing things that nurture and strengthen you.
This might be something as simple as treating yourself to a slice of cake to celebrate a good day, or developing a workout routine to improve your physical and mental health.
What it looks like, over time you’ll build up greater resilience to handle what the PhD has to throw at you.
But another useful – and related – skill is to develop self-compassion. Self-compassion is the art of going easy on yourself and not giving yourself such a hard time when things don’t go to plan. It involves you being kinder to yourself when you get things wrong, reminding yourself that you’re trying your hardest and that you’re only human.
If you can nail these two skills, you’ll be much better prepared not just to navigate your PhD, but to handle the stresses and strains of life more generally.
Good luck!
p.s. Don’t forget about our #PhDclinic Twitter chat at 11am UK time on Friday 13th March 2020. Follow @phdproofreaders on Twitter and follow #PhDclinic for more.
