Acceptance

 

Another personal side step today. One of the most difficult things I have found in life is to accept that there are some things that I have no control over. That no matter how much I want to change the inevitable I simply cannot fix it. Such an episode happened Friday. My beautiful dog, Maggie, had to be put to sleep due to her cancer metastasizing throughout her abdomen. Maggie was a pet therapy dog, and every human, cat, or other dog she met was always her next best friend (photo is attached with her cat friend, Jed). 

 

You will find that instances may occur during your dissertation when you too must accept some difficult news. Common ones for students are that a committee member wants more revisions or you must take an additional quarter to finish, even if it means paying out of pocket. Fighting such things, kicking and screaming, simply does not change the inevitable. Just as I had to accept that Maggie was not going to recover, you must accept there are times when you must put up with delays.  

The feeling of a lack of control can be frustrating, painful, and make you angry or depressed. It can stop you in your tracks and make you throw things at the computer. It doesn’t help. The sooner you can accept that this too is a part of life and the process of getting a doctoral degree, the sooner you can move forward. Take it one step at a time and claim what control that you can. What step can you do today? Even if it is nothing more than making a list, take the next baby step toward acceptance. 

Next time, we will move on to Tables and Figures. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu