I just wanted to let everyone know that I did complete my thesis, it has been handed in, I will have my viva soon and hopefully soon after that find out my grade. Thank you for all your support, and everyone who is in similar situation - you can do it! Break your work into miniscule steps and keep going. Sometimes the steps have to be ridiculously miniscule, but it's all progress. Good luck!

Thank you everyone for your encouragement. I am going to start with babysteps. Today's goal is to write 100 words. I'll try and stick to that every day next week. Then maybe increase the number to 200 words. Eventually to 300 words.

I think asking for an extension isn't going to help me, because as many of you said, it will just cause further procrastination.

I am not too worried about the data analysis as I think I know how to do this. I have analysed part of my data and presented my results at a conference. After that my supervisor asked me to get more data so that is what I am working on now and I'll have to analyse that new data. But the principle will be the same as what I have already done.

Ok. I am now going to go over my data and see what needs to be done in the next 2 weeks in the lab and I will write it down. Then I will write 100 words, no matter what. That should be doable.

Thank you so much for your encouragement.

(...And yes, I'm sure I want to do my PhD. I know right now it may seem like it's not for me, but that is my goal and thinking about it will get me through this tough time.)

I wonder how the starter of this topic is doing now? I am battling with the exact same problems and it is tearing me apart. It is very reassuring to read that other people are going through the same thing. And also very reassuring to read the above replies to hear that it is possible to survive this although it now seems impossible.

Thanks. I have read that text about social isolation a few weeks back. It was a good read for sure and gave me a lot to think about. I have certainly thought carefully about the PhD and it is something I want to do, both for employment and personal reasons. It is a huge commitment but it is indeed what I need.

...if only I can survive through my master's thesis first. I think I might go speak to my supervisor. I think the biggest issue here is that I am in a country where I really do not want to be. I won't be doing my PhD here. My thesis is in a manuscript format, it's obviously the first one I've ever written and I am panicking whether 3 months will be enough. I am planning to stop lab work in 2 weeks no matter what, work with what I have and try and focus on the data analysis and writing. Is this doable at all? I have had very little help from my supervisor so far, he will be gone over the summer and there are no peers either I could talk to or relate to and I am just totally lost as to whether this is at all doable.

I have to hand in my master's thesis in about 3 months and I can't see it happening. I am still working in the lab, I don't have all my data, I haven't even started my data analysis yet and I have done 3 pages of writing. I am getting increasingly overwhelmed by this and other crap happening in my life. Lately I have not been able to get out of bed, I have stopped going to the lab, I have not been working at all. All I can do is lie in my bed and cry. I really want to get this done though as it would be a disaster if I didn't, and I want to carry on to do my PhD. I just don't know how to climb this mountain. I am feeling really bad and depressed and I feel like I'm letting everyone down if I don't get this done and I am a waste of space and time and I am in a foreign country doing my research and I have nobody to talk to. Please someone help me how to pick myself up and get my thesis done on time?

Hey, I am in the exact same position - and in the same field as well! I am interested in evolutionary biology/ ecology focusing on marine fish. I have sent one email to a potential supervisor, but have not heard back yet. I am going to email him again in the next couple of days.

I'm really struggling to decide how to go about this. I have spoken with my professors and current PI (I'm in the middle of my masters just now) asking for advice and they said a short and concise email and a CV is my best bet. So I ended up writing a short email introducing myself, stating my research interests and saying what I am doing now, and finally outlining the direction I'd like to take in my future research and how that fits in with whatever they are doing. I just read the email again and now I think it was rubbish so I am going to re-write it and keep spamming that one PI and probably a few other ones too.

What country are you applying for the PhD in, as I think this may vary depending on the country, too? This is so soul wrenching it is unreal and I can assure you you're not alone getting all anxious and depressed about this. I've spent weeks doing my background research and have really read carefully about the research my preferred group does and have put a lot of time and effort to make my CV look good and write the email (which wasn't that good in the end but I'll keep working on it) and then hearing nothing back is just heart breaking.

Do you think we'd need a research proposal at this stage?

Good luck!