Day 5: Negotiation

Another day of research team meeting. Today's focus: Revising a data analysis template. It's been a long journey for us to get to this stage of research (2 years!), and we are in a time crunch due to our presentation in August. This provides us with a sense of urgency as well as stress, as we try to negotiate the demand placed upon us, time constraints, and integrity of research (note: we are not at all trying to compromise the integrity of research, but it's all the matter of degree).

3 1/2 hours of meeting, and i see the tension and stuggles of my colleagues, and me somewhat objectively trying to mediate the situation. In the end, I believe we walked away feeling we have done the best we can, and will continue to work hard. I always find myself feeling depleted and in need of energy boosting. I spend some time with my other colleagues, have a good laugh, and go home for self-care. After having witnessed a good friend of mine suffering from stress and bell's palsy, and my almost having another fainting spell, I am extremely conscious these days of what my body can take both physically and psychologically. I do what I can and do my best to spend my waking moment productively, but I'm no longer willing to compromise myself and my health.

After some down time, I went out to have Chinese food with a friend and then hang out and relax at her place. Nice! Just what I needed!