Why being a PhD is more than science

One thing I have to learn during my four years as PhD student is, that all the PhD-comics are right. Being a PhD and doing your PhD is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. You don’t have to improve your science skills, but also a lot of personal or so-called soft skills.

What helped me a lot is to deal with the question how our nervous system is working and what is really meant by saying “I am under stress”. Because what stress means for someone personally is very subjective and depends on your former experiences, e.g. in relationships or with different situations. All these experiences change your neurozeption, which calls you, what is a save situation, so you are relaxed, and what is a possible danger situation, so you feel stress.