Everywhere I turn, people are telling me how hard academia is and how hard a Phd is - and to tell you the truth, when I decided to do a PhD - I hadn't believed them. I thought, 7th form wasn't that bad - and people had said it was horrible, 3rd year wasn't that bad - and people had said it was horrible, honours wasn't that bad - and people had said it was horrible. So? I thought - hey, I can handle this PhD thing. No sweat.

Enter reality. Actually, a PhD really IS a long haul - longer than I have ever done before - potentially WAY longer than I have ever lasted before. Will I be able to keep my insecurities at bay? In fact, when I look back on 2003 (7th form), that was the first year I had my "little annual emotional event". Last year was pretty hard, with many unexpected events - but it was also the first I didn't have an unexpected "emotional event". So - this must be a new beginning.

And what, a PhD as a "period of depression"? I like ML's dismissal of the whole thing as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Well, I won't let this cloud rain on my parade!!! I'm going to enjoy it - so get out of my way!!!