One of my friends is getting married out of the country and I'm taking a week off to attend and go sightseeing. I'm leaving within the next couple days, and in the past week, I've been processing samples and running experiments to analyze immediately when I get back. Although it's been a bit busy lately, I will say that my motivation level in the past month has really hit an all-time low.
I had two major projects to complete before I go: one was a hormone/chemical treatment on the tadpole brain to determine the rate and location of cell division. The other is riboprobe synthesis for use in the early-stage tadpole brain. I admit I've been really slow in getting started, but sometimes just looking at the protocols makes me feel sluggish (for instance, the riboprobe synthesis and testing takes about 3 days to finish).
I'm guessing it's the 3-4 year slump; prelims are done, the post-prelim high has passed, and now it's just straight up research until my advisor says I'm done. Which would be...nobody knows when.
Two of my friends who quit grad school did so at the end of their third year/beginning of fourth year, which is where I'm at right now. One said experiments weren't working out and the other simply lost interest in their project. While I'm not planning on quitting, I'm definitely feeling the decrease in motivation (and with it, productivity). I'm guessing once I get my brain out of vacation mode -- where it's been for about two weeks -- at least some motivation will come back and I'll have cool new stuff to present/defend at my next committee meeting.
I wonder if anyone else is getting sluggish about their work...?
