I think my PhD is burning me out. Is this normal?
I’m doing a PhD and honestly I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore.
My project is related to AI, but my program doesn’t offer any courses on it (my background is in literature). I’m expected to find a company on my own for an internship, plus arrange a research stay abroad by myself. On top of that, I’m supposed to publish papers, but I barely have time to actually work on my research because I spend most of my time doing administrative tasks for the department.
Lately I’ve been feeling constantly under pressure and I think I’m heading toward burnout. I’m really not doing well, at least a couple of times a week I end up breaking down because of this, and it’s starting to affect my mental health. The thing is, I actually love learning and writing. But right now I feel completely demotivated and I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
Maybe this is just a rough period where everything is overlapping, and I hope that’s the case. But I genuinely don’t know anymore. Is it really worth it? Do I actually need this?
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Did things get better, or did you decide to leave?
Thx