‘Today was a difficult day,’ said Pooh.
There was a pause.
‘Do you want to talk about it?’ asked Piglet.
‘No,’ said Pooh after a bit. ‘No, I don’t think I do’.
‘That’s okay,’ said Piglet, and he came and sat beside his friend.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Pooh.
‘Nothing, really,’ said Piglet. ‘Only, I know what difficult days are like. I quite often don’t feel like talking about it on my difficult days either’.
‘But goodness,’ continued Piglet, ‘difficult days are so much easier when you know you’ve got someone here for you. And I’ll always be here for you Pooh’.
And as Pooh sat there, working through in his head his difficult day, while the solid, reliable Piglet sat next to him quietly, swinging his little legs…he thought that his best friend had never been more right.
—
Know that I’ll be here to provide resources and support on the practicalities of completing a PhD at this time. I’ll be sharing more details on Monday about what I’ll be doing to help you as you self-isolate, stay away from university and manage your PhD. I’ll be offering a range of services, including free guides on The PhD Knowledge Base, lists of useful resources/links, Q&As about working from home, and special one-on-one sessions for those struggling and for those who now have limited supervision and need extra guidance. More about this on Monday.
Please know that you can also get in touch with me personally. I am listening. Reply to this email to share your queries, fears, questions or anxieties. I’ll respond in confidence for free. Please bear with me, as I’m getting lots of messages.
Also, you are invited to join our Virtual PhD Coworking Space, which is a space to connect with people in the same situation and share advice, tips and frustrations. To sign up, please click here, create a free slack account and join the discussion.
Be kind to each other, be there for those around you, and be there for yourself too. Share what’s on your mind and accept that what you’re feeling is normal and okay.
Good luck and have a good weekend.
