Learning to live a little, as I wait for my PhD dream

Melissa Cristina Márquez (@mcmsharksxx) is the Founder of the The Fins United Initiative. In this story, she talks about the importance of taking a step back from hectic work hours and deadlines, being patient and setting aside enough time to rest and recharge.

This story was published on February 18, 2018, on Melissa’s blog (available here) and has been republished here with her permission.

When I was younger I used to write fictional stories. I don’t remember the stories but I remember the theme: fantasy mixed with a healthy dose of reality. I thought it would be cool to see one of my stories in the Scholastic book fairs I attended at the time, seeing my last name on the spine of a publication ‘one day.’ Well one day came and went and I found myself working an uninspiring nine to five, checking the boxes, paying the bills. There was no passion in what I was being paid to do (I was doing the work of office administration, being a fill-in receptionist, a litigation officer, etc). I wasn’t leaping out of bed in the morning and felt pretty awful that it seemed like everyone else had it together while I was still stumbling through — even after getting the coveted degree!

An alarm is literally what shifted my mindset. Waking up at 5:30am every day and working sometimes 10 hours at a job I wasn’t even passionate about was not working out for me and I wanted a change. My goal at that point? It changed from “publish a paper and get the PhD” to also include “build a life where I don’t dread any day of the week.” What a dream!

Interested to know how Melissa managed to achieve this goal? Read the full story here.