Norman
To my chemistry friends,
I just sent an email to Balusamy and wrote about his health. We all know PhD is a trek. We have a lot of chances to be frustrated. How do we come across the frustrations? Do you really care on your health? You should. I am not talking about the precautions like wearing goggles, gloves, coats, etc. but normal health.
I share something what I do here.
- If I am in 100 meters running race, I would run fast from the very beginning. But this is marathon, I need to be steady, to take rest often in the middle, save energy to reach the terminal.
- My boss never force me to finish a work on deadline. I simply send email or directly answer to him, "Dr. Halterman, I didn't find time to run that reaction in last week, I have an exam this week too, probably I will finish the reaction in next week". So my point is don't strain yourself on day and nights to finish a work to submit. Better explain your situation to your boss. Care on your health to not quit in the middle of the track (marathon).
- My labmates are quite open. Anybody can open our table drawers and use anybody's apparatus. They help me lot. We often sit for discussion on our research. Before the meeting we send emails, "can you guys sit with me this evening? I need to discuss few problems with you". In the meeting they give suggestions to my problems and show care on me.
- Eat healthy: Chemistry labs atmosphere make us tired, irritated or sick. Having healthy food will give you the sustainability. Don't delay your meal time and bed time. We have refrigerator, microwave oven and coffee maker in our lab. My lab mates keep lunch in the fridge and heat in oven before having that. My boss brings roasted coffee seeds from his home and gives us pleasant coffee daily. There is a big sofa to take rest. We can't expect this in all labs, but at least take good lunch and rest in the noon. Better avoid eating outside.
- Physical exercise: Even we are standing throughout the day in the lab, we need more physical exercise. Go for a pleasant walk every evening in fresh atmosphere. I do go to gym an hour daily. That keeps me energetic. We don't need to build body, but have good physic.
- Diet: As you know, I am much care on my diet. These days I buy all fresh vegetables, nuts, meat, milk every week from supermarket (Walmart) and cook for my need. No coke, chocolate, tea, coffee and spices. We need to take care of ourselves. Here in US medicines are too expensive.
- Have good routine: Keep a good life style. Do all works at time, eat and sleep at time. Our parents are good example, the realized the marathon, they wake up earlier, finish works at time, sleep at time. So they run long with a steady fast. Our generations are messed up. In your weekly calendar don't engage any extra program, and don't attend anything extra which are not engaged.
- Frustration the biggest problem:I see many scholars are frustrated of having not good results in experiments. And they go abnormal for few days. We should do anything immediately to come out of that. When I go disappointed with my work, I do few things, I talk to Priya or my family, I clean my room, wash my cloths, go out with my camera, cook delicious food, etc. to avoid negative thoughts. My room mate Robinson does differently, he calls up some American friends to home, prays Jesus with them for some time, goes out with them, donates some money to church and poor, does some social service. Everybody does different things, that may be funny on others view, but we all need them to have our energy back, keep the fire on. You cannot winany thing by losing your originality.
- Share your ideas with others. Write here in the thread. Never feel you are suffering alone.
Saravanan Ramasamy
No comments:
Post a Comment