Hello

Thank you for your replies and advice. I have actually had a day off today and it's made me realise how tired I am. I am going to start taking one day off a week and try and spend a bit of time away from the computer screen.

CR1908, that sounds like a good idea. I'm going to make a to do list of everything that is left and set deadlines so I can tick one thing off at a time.

I'm also going to speak to my supervisors and see if I can find a way to make this seem more manageable. I'm a bit worried about doing this, my supervisors are really approachable, but I just don't want to admit to them that I am struggling, when I should be able to do this.

Incognito, I'm sorry to hear you're going through a rough time. I'm studying in my home country, but I've previously worked abroad and it can feel so much more isolating when things are not going well.

Thanks again for your advice, I think I'm just going to have to speak to my supervisors, try and cut things down into smaller chunks and take things one day at a time.

Apologies in advance for what is a bit of a rant. I’ve been a lurker on this forum for a while, I’ve had a long week and I just need a bit of a rant.

I'm currently well into continuation and have got another extension of a few months to finish writing up. I still feel like I've got a massive amount left to do (I've not finished my data analysis yet) and to be honest, I'm feeling completely swamped. I'm exhausted and annoyed with myself. I have attempted to do far too much for my project and I feel like I'm now in a complete mess. I've put in so much effort but I think by trying to include so much I'm doing a lot of things badly and not doing what I have done justice. I also think it's too late to drop things out now as I've got a lot of data almost analysed and partly written up. I'm currently working about 12 hours a day 7 days a week. I know this isn't healthy, and over the last day or two I've started to feel like I'm reaching breaking point, but I've got so much left to do that I don’t feel like I can justify taking a day off and if I do I always end up feeling guilty and working anyway. I also feel like I'm constantly trying to explain to people why I still haven’t finished. To be honest, I am really embarrassed about taking so long and I am quite worried about how to explain this when applying for jobs. I had a few weeks off because of an ill family member and my mind was on other things around this time, but that wasn't more than a couple of months in total and other than that, I’ve loved my topic and work and I’ve had supervisors who have been helpful and engaged in my project so I’m still not completely sure how I’ve ended up so far behind. I’m normally pretty good at staying positive about things (although I do panic unnecessarily) but the last few weeks I’ve just started feeling completely defeated. I know I should be able to do this, but I feel like I’m letting a lot of people down. Really, I just need to man up and get my thesis finished. Has anyone got any advice on how to keep motivated and make things feel more achievable?