It’s true. I started my PhD over in a new lab/field 4.75 years in....profs kept telling me time lost was a drop in the bucket of a scientific life. This was hard to hear. Easy for them to say..what about my life plans? What about the gap I would have to explain forever? 1/ https://twitter.com/darinweed/status/1295109352748130305

In the end, they were right. In the next lab, I got to pick my own projects & defended only 2.5 yrs later. It felt like a mini-postdoc & set me up to hit the ground running & have a very successful actual PD. Can’t even remember last time I had to explain time lost, if ever 2/

I know many of you may be struggling with no end in sight in the valley of despair. Some tips for getting through that here
http://www.avasthilab.org/2020/05/21/navigating-the-valley-of-despair-aka-years-4-end-of-grad-school/
3/

It’s important you learn how to finish things but no one is living your life to know your exact circumstances. So your time spent relative to others isn’t a measure of your worth 4/

It took me many years and hindsight to realize that strange paths weren’t the exception but the rule. Maybe not in the same exact way, but it helped to see that I was not uniquely cursed. This sh*t is hard & life sometimes has plans you didn’t intend. 5/

So be kind to yourself as you push to finish things & don’t let the time itself get you down. 6/6