Guilt-Free Social Life, Part 1: Importance of Outside Activities

Part 1:  Importance of Outside Activities
Part 2:  Steps Toward Guaranteed Free Time
Part 3:  Success Stories

It is often difficult to maintain an active social life as a graduate student. However, the benefits of having interests outside of the lab are numerous and should not be overlooked. In this three part series I will go through why it is important to have a social life, some suggestions for staying active outside of the lab, and some real life examples of how you can be successful at both.

As a student, it is much easier to focus on scholarly achievements instead of weeknight mini golf. After all, shouldn't your life be 100% dedicated to pursuing your degree? It's pretty easy to put your life on hold while you pursue your degree. Friends and loved ones tell you they understand and your advisor seems really keen to have you in the lab 24/7. As a result, you feel guilty if you're not in the lab all the time.  However, it is in your best interest to have fun things to do that aren't directly related to graduate school. I'll keep posting about professional and personal life balance in the future but here are some reasons why it is important to take time to take care of yourself.

You need to grow as a person as well as a scientist. Regardless of the stereotypical image of scientists, we are not socially incompetent. Being a scientist requires social skills in order to present your work, find collaborators, get a job, etc. Having a hobby outside of science lets you meet new people who share common interests (not related to your degree) and as an added bonus, hobbies are a way to get away (and hopefully work out) any frustrations you you’re your research. These activities add balance to your life and they make you a better scientist. How? Because you have something to look forward to when your experiments fail, your mentor stresses you out, or you just can’t stand to examine that data set any longer. Doing something outside of your research will help make you a happier graduate student. Being happier helps you work better and all of that adds up to help you finish your project faster.

You are doing really important work as a graduate student and the quicker you get your project wrapped up, the quicker you get to move on to bigger and better things. But don't forget to live during the process. So, think about something you enjoy doing (or enjoyed doing before you started graduate school) and try to find a way to incorporate it into your life that now revolves around experiments and data analysis. Go to the gym, go for a hike, volunteer, take a pottery class, join or start a (non-science) book club. Schedule these activities as appointments if you must but try to spend at least 1 hour a week doing something fun that is not related to your labwork.

Next week: I'll write about how to get away from the lab for these outside activities.