you are center stage.....now what

i feel like i have so many eyeballs on me, and that does nothing but add pressure because you know so many people want to see you do well. it's hard to explain the challenges you face day-to-day, and so many people think that there is a time limit to a phd. no, you can clearly be doing a phd for as long as you would like. you don't simply get one because you have been here for X number of years. a lot of what lies beneath the surface is damn near impossible to understand until you have been there and done that. it's similar to my pledging experience: no matter how much people tried to prepare you for the journey, you really don't know what you are getting into until you experience it first-hand.