why is it that you can feel lonely when the nearest person to you is right next to you?
Why is it that you can live in shared accommodation with a neighbour being one door knock away yet you still feel lonely?
Answer: PhD. lol.

Agreed. But loneliness is a state of mind and a state of being that is imposed by the day-to-day research tasks. However, as researchers, shouldn't we be out there seeing the world and coming up with new ideas? Creativity = putting A and B together, where A and B are unrelated. Lol. :)

Interesting point you make. I once said to my mother that even though I was surrounded by people in the department were I did my PhD, I had never felt so loney than when I was doing my PhD.

I could never really put my finger on why this was the case and it has nothing to do with physical isolation. I have plenty of friends and socialised quite a bit but still felt lonely.

Where can you find so many cool people from different countries, religions and walks of life?
Where can you make lifelong friends who you will always stay in contact with, no matter how many miles seperate you?
Where can you look back, in 20 years time and think 'they were the best years of my life?

- In a PhD students office... whilst doing a PhD...

How else could you live in Bleak Towers, get Bleakfoot from tripping over the cobblestones in Bleakdon, think that eggs are a huge luxury, forego hot showers, live on pot noodle ( and trout), etc...

My PhD is testament to a huge decline in lifestyle, back to if not worse than the first time I went to uni.

When I was first in uni I was young, not prone to the health maladies of Bleakfoot, and thought it was great to party all the time.

the lonliness question that you are asking.....it obviously reflect our basic "need for attachment"........for relationships for friends.......I am doing PhD in OB but i am amatuer astrolger too ...;).....and with that knowledge i think people have different emotional makeups...and tolerance/need for isolation....some people are just by design more independent and less conscious of relatinships and attachments and some are just lost without significant relationships.......and with pressures of Phd (specially if you away from home)... it is quite possible to become more conscious of these needs

What's OB? And how could a PhD in anything be compatible with a belief in astrology......?

;P

I have a belief in astrology!

OB is organizational behavior.....(its pyschology of workplace)

and astrology has got nothing to do with OB ....its my side kick ;)....western astrologers are very fond of psychology...you will be surprised to find that how many astrolgers are very educated and have backgrounds in psychology......well psychology in it own right is a very complex topic.....if you ever get a chance read....Supernature and beyond supernature by an eminent biologist by lyall watson.....

sorry i meant ASTROLOGY in its own right is v complex topic.....

hey olivia.....so how far your beliefs in astrology go.....