Once again my boyfriend and I talked about my reasons to do the Ph.D in Switzerland. And once again my MSc and all that has happened seems to determine my decision to go there, but not in a positive way, he claims. I believe I have finally overcome the depressive stage that I had got into since june, but now the MSc triggers anger and rage: it is just tooo evident by my secondary acknowledgements. Because of this, my bf considers I do not have a clear mind to take this decision and that I am now motivated by my inner feeling of frustration and rage, not by positive feelings of taking a step further in Economics. He thinks I shouldn't have such motivations behind.
To that, I could only reply that I will try to get a clearer mind, but unfortunately the decision has to be made soon- whatever the way I feel- and that I would have to deal with the consequences. I just hope that by the first of november, if I decide to take the Ph.D, I will have peace of mind to effectively deal with them.
For many years, my priority has been my studies and my career: being "the best" was my main incentive. Coming to England to do an MSc was my biggest dream and I achieved it. Through this year, my motivation was still there but with the exams all my internal contradictions erupted: I had been trying to keep them quiet for a year, but after all I went through, I was no longer able to hold them... these contradictions ran me over and it hurt because if proved me how vacuous my dream had been, how a dream could turn into a nightmare, how egotistic my motivations had been.
Somehow I feel empty, because my original driving force is no longer there. I don't even know what really stimulates me are now, to be honest. I just feel that trying to be successful is not everything in life: going to a top university in the States... well, that is no longer my idea of happiness, as it once was. Sometimes I think I've done enough, I achieved my dream and now I can just be; it might be the time to slow down and enjoy a bit more and focus in other parts of my life, for example my emotional life, with him. To that he replied that he would not be able to bear the fact that I'd turned down such an opportunity for him, for us. Especially if we break up, he thinks we would both regret not having done the Ph.D.
*What is a legitimate inner motivation for pursuing (or not pursuing) a Ph.D?*
I hope I'll be able to come up with an answer soon...