Sustenance

I was blessed as a naive MA grad student to come into my program at a time where there were a lot of "seasoned" grad students still on campus and active in the department. I looked up to them, I listened to them, I learned from them, and although they may not all know it, they were critical in sustaining me through a time when I wasn't sure if a "life of the mind" was for me.

I am blessed to still be in touch with some of these wonderful souls (soon to be future colleagues). They keep me grounded, keep me from being too self-critical, and most important of all, they make me smile when I think of them. (Too many people in academe make me frown when I think of them). In any case, one of these wonderful souls reminded me of the importance of sustenance during the dissertation process--the need for things and for people that nourish your heart, your mind, and your soul (and of course, your stomach).

This got me thinking about middle school science when you learn about symbiosis--a close relationship between two organisms. (Bear with me, I abandoned the sciences my sophomore year of college). Sometimes the relationship is mutually beneficial--the little bird picks the bugs off the hippo--the bird is happy, the hippo is happy. And sometimes the relationship is parasitic--like a tapeworm that lives in another animal's stomach and eats all its food.

The relationship that a writer has with her dissertation is extremely symbiotic. Some days it is mutually beneficial--the dissertation grows and the writer grows too. But on other days, the dissertation is a huge parasite. It sucks all of the writer's energy--forces the writer to give all of herself to meet this one singular goal of just being done. And unfortunately, these days sometimes outnumber the good days. And when this happens, some serious sustenance is in order.

I have been in need of some serious nourishment during this Chapter Two process, and in so many unexpected ways I have received it. So this post is just a little late night cheesy moment to say thank you to those who understand my symbiotic relationship with my dissertation--those of you who feed my soul like mashed potatoes and refresh my spirit like summer rain when I need it most. This is also a reminder to myself and to anyone who reads this--if you already have a dissertation in your life, you definitely don't need any more parasites--so get rid of anything that is feeding off of you rather than feeding you....