Thanks all, for those words of common sense. I saw my MA program coordinator and explained the situation, and have pulled out of the MA program... the last few days have been an AMAZING flow of energy back into the PhD... and better still, I pulled out before registering any fail for the sake of my record. After explaining my personal stuff to the MA head I also feel welcome to give it ago next year, AFTER my PhD... Also properly engaging with my PhD supe again.. I was crazy to try and do both at once.. thanks all, much saner here :)

Hi,
This is my first post.
I'm currently doing my PhD (linguistics), which I've been doing since 2009, and as of this year have begun a full time MA (Speech Pathology coursework) at another university. The idea behind taking on the Masters was to provide a practical pathway to employment in my chosen field. My doctoral work, like most PhDs is somewhat obscure, incredibly demanding, though I absolutely love it.

That said, I still have a way to go with my PhD, and my candidature runs to August this year (including extensions, which I've already used up). My PhD fieldwork is all done, and I'm well on the way to preparing my final draft, but there is soooo much still left to do... My PhD supervisor doesn't know I'm doing an MA simultaneously, and I've been avoiding meeting with him for the last two months while I try and get things on track in both courses.

Since starting my MA I haven't been able to work on my PhD hardly at all, have had massive difficulty with the MA, and even failed my first anatomy exam, which shocked me, as I've never failed anything before.

While I do feel that I have taken on too much, in the ideal world, I would like to achieve both my set goals. Nevertheless, I feel I'm losing grip on both, and am also having serious problems in my personal life which are draining me of energy. I'm trying to adapt to the workload I've set myself, but find myself racked with worry every morning and night. I've been persevering but feel now I'm spiralling downwards in all my works. On the other hand I want to be positive and tell myself that its a matter of time management.

I feel very distressed about all this, as the very last thing I want to happen is to lose my way with the PhD, which is where my heart really lies, whereas the MA is purely a pragmatic undertaking. But I also don't want to abandon my MA, not only because it is an incredibly interesting course, but because I don't want to be a 'quitter'. All of this looked do-able late last year when I applied for the MA, but now I feel trapped in a nightmare of my own making. A counsellor I spoke to about it more or less advised me to pull out of the MA and cut my losses, but a voice inside me is saying 'you can do it, you just need to try harder and to find the right rhythm and time-plan'.

I would very much appreciate any advice from others on my situation.
thanks,
Damian.