Gathering the strength

This past couple of months, I have been focusing a lot on my thesis writing. As I am not a full time doctorate student, the challenge is indeed big. Most people who do their doctorates would do it full time. The idea is to minimise distraction from the study itself.

I chose not to be a full time student because I am not on any scholarship whatsoever. It was the same case when I did my master of science some years back. I decided to pursue my postgraduate studies because I wanted to and to prove myself that I can indeed do it. It's not for some monetary gains in the form of promotion or position. In fact, where I work, there is no clause to say that one will get a raise upon completion of studies at a higher level.

The greatest challenge for me is not really the research part nor the writing part. I am thankful for the years of exposure at the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia that helped me a great deal on these aspects. My greatest challenge is to balance my time with the various chores that I have to do.

My day job requires me to focus on the work at Yayasan Ilmuwan which involves organisational management, research and academic writing. On top of this, I am also a part time lecturer at Universiti Malaya. I also sit on the research ethics committee of Universiti Teknologi MARA that vets the ethical aspect of research proposals undertaken at the university. Aside from this, I am also a budding science fiction writer who is trying hard to complete the second part of my Transgenesis, dare I say it, "saga". Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka who recently found out about my novels (which were published by other publishers) has asked me for a couple of short stories for their magazines. And of course, as a husband, father and son, I have my family obligations that I cannot neglect.

With all these, I try to find time on weeknights to write my thesis. I am quite pleased with the progress thus far. Considering the fact that I am not a full time student and I have just started my sixth semester, the progress I have made in terms of thesis-writing is quite significant. Truth be told, most of the times I wonder where I get the strength from. It is tiring and exhausting, especially mentally, but the drive to get things done is always there to keep me going.

I am actually putting myself to task to ensure that the thesis is completed in this semester itself. Tall order? I hope not.

I am praying hard that I be given the strength, health and perseverance to see this through.