My month started with responding to reviewer comments for one of my papers. As always, I was overwhelmed when I initially got the comments. Unfortunately, the deadline was very tight which meant that all my efforts were focused on this paper. To make things more eventful, I was also preparing to move in with my partner after almost two years of long distance. I ended up going on a long hibernation from social media because I needed to focus on doing major revisions on my paper.
It has been rather difficult to juggle the move and PhD life. At times, I felt like it took away all my excitement I had for the move and I even felt that it was bad timing. But as the saying goes, sometimes, you just have to ‘trust the timing’. So, that’s what I did and it eventually worked out okay in the end. Happy to say, the paper was published a few days ago!
I have also been working on finalising my content for my intervention which has taken a lot of refining. We were granted with ethics approval on our modifications. It was very exciting to be able to finally start recruiting. The response so far has been a little disappointing, but I am aware that it is a busy time of the year with semester ending and upcoming exams.
In other news, I had the opportunity to do a one-day media training in Melbourne (cover photo taken at Oaks on William). It was quite overwhelming but it was so incredibly useful. I’m so glad I was able to tick this off my list because now it means I can take on requests as a DAA Spokesperson.
In summary, it has been a rather challenging but productive month. I feel a little overworked because the lines between my working hours/ weekdays vs. free time/ weekends have been blurred. The other reason I feel overworked maybe from setting up the new house and other duties associated with adulting. The whole process of moving has been very exciting but it has been a huge adjustment at the same time. We have realised that it’s going to take much longer to settle than we anticipated. So, we’re trying to make peace with that and be content with what we have (I still continue to document in the gratitude journal I started back in March).
Here are some of my October eats :)
First meal at our new home (of course, it had to be a salad!)
First brunch in our new home (Sunday brunch #1)
Ricotta, chia and coconut bliss balls
Salmon penne with veggies and chickpea
Home may be basic at the moment, but salad has gotta be extra AF :P
Cacao, banana and blueberry pancakes (Sunday brunch #2)
Rice noodles with vege, chicken and cashew
Meal prep: roasted pumpkin + asparagus, carrots and cashew
Sultana and oat cake
Meal prep: roasted veggies
Sunday brunch #3: mixture of plain and cacao pancakes
Pasta bake for Meatless Monday
