During the course of your postgraduate research journey, it is inevitable that some things will go wrong – an experiment will fail; a fieldtrip may yield no results; or a paper will be rejected. Life outside university will also continue with the usual mix of good things and disappointments.
When something goes wrong, our emotional response can lead us into doing things that actually make us feel worse. This is because we seek immediate release through short-term pleasure. We consume alcohol and ice cream to try to switch off the unpleasant emotions we are feeling. But this simply leads us to waking up the next day feeling ill; tired; and still upset. Instead, it can be more helpful to do things that will help us in the medium- or long-term, rather than just trying to avoid the emotion. Experiment with different strategies until you find the ones which work best for you:
- Step outside – away from work – and give yourself some time to calm down. Don’t put pressure on yourself to fix everything straight away.
- Use some relaxation strategies
- Exercise has been shown to be extremely effective at reducing stress and anxiety.
- Talk to your friends about what happened – talking about negative emotions/events can help you to move past them and receiving comfort from others can help you to feel better.
- Do something to help someone else – helping others is good for our wellbeing. Helping others can also increase your own feelings of self-worth and confidence – meaning you are more able to tackle whatever has gone wrong.
- Listen to music; and do something creative – If you take some time out to do something creative that you enjoy, when you’ve finished you may find it easier to rethink what happened and find a way forward.
- Use the support around you – talking to supervisor/s or Student Services may help you manage whatever has gone wrong and give some extra support – so you don’t feel you are tackling it alone.
- Get a good night’s sleep – if you are upset, you may need to take steps to make this more likely.
Click here to access the University of Hull's Mental Health and Wellbeing team
