• Question: What keeps you going when times get tough

    Asked by anon-341568 on 21 Nov 2022.
    • Photo: Katie Pickup

      Katie Pickup answered on 21 Nov 2022:

      My friends! A lot of the time in science, experiments don’t work very well and sometimes weeks (even occasionally months…) worth of experimental work gets messed up and it can be quite demoralising. Remembering that it happens to everyone by talking to my friends at lunch time really helps, and going to the pub with them after work is a great way to forget about my cells and annoying experiments!

    • Photo: Matthew Swift

      Matthew Swift answered on 21 Nov 2022:

      It sounds cheesy but friends and colleagues are a big big help. But also when something goes right it is the best feeling in the world, it’s very hard to describe but it makes all the toil and failures worth it!

    • Photo: Charlene Kay

      Charlene Kay answered on 22 Nov 2022:

      When work gets frustrating I try to remember the reason I went into research in the first place – to discover something that can help patients with cancer. Experiments ‘fail’ all the time but we can always learn something from these failures. I remind myself to be resilient, discuss new approaches with my team and try the experiment again.

    • Photo: Ailish Tynan

      Ailish Tynan answered on 22 Nov 2022:

      Like the others have said – having a good network of friends and colleagues around you that are there to support you when experiments and life in general get tough is so important! It can be easy to fall into a head space where you think you’re the only person having a bad time but it’s helpful to talk to other people and then you realise we’re all going through the same thing! It’s also so important to take regular breaks and schedule holidays, often coming back from those breaks with a fresh perspective helps you see things you might have missed before.

    • Photo: Sharon Madzorera

      Sharon Madzorera answered on 22 Nov 2022:

      You cannot pour from an empty cup, so I always make sure I take time to rest when needed. Overworking will not necessarily lead to better results. We have great resources for mental health in our organisation as well.

    • Photo: Charli Corcoran

      Charli Corcoran answered on 28 Nov 2022:

      Echoing what everyone else has said, the people around me help massively when things get tough. Whether that is at work, where there is always someone to chat with or share coffee and cake with, or if its at home where the kids just want someone to watch Disney+ with them or play lego or barbies, which is great for trying to leave the tough work times at work.

      Successful days and weeks also make it very worthwhile. I think sometimes we focus on the things that are going wrong and its easy to forget about things that we have done well, so it can be good to reflect on things that have gone well for me if I find I’m starting to dwell too much on things that aren’t working out.

Comments