PhDs and an unsteady relationship with sanity

With a mid-candidature review coming up in a few weeks, I have been busy ensuring that I look as organised and in-control as possible to my readers for the day. My document is still very much a draft, but I am sure I will have that done in time for hand-in at the end of next week. Fingers crossed. As I have left a draft with my supervisor for a few days, I have been spending time trying to regain what was left of my sanity before I started intense writing over a month ago. I have found that clouds of words eases my tension - which is very unusual, I know - so I have been happily picking a topic and forming word clouds on an awesome site called Wordle.

For those of you who have already endured the loss of sanity through writing or academic life in general, I applaud you if you are currently not in a psychiatric ward. For those of you who have not reached this point yet, I wish you luck when it comes your time. Those of you who are currently at the same stage as me - I'm sure you have found solace in a video game, TV show, or random activity that will help you survive this experience. If not, go out and find one before your thesis sucks out your soul! I have a feeling I will look back in a few months at these blogs and say "sheesh, I was sure a whiny and negative person back then". C'est la vie, I'll survive! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? Right?!?