I'm trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure and joy.
~Shawn Johnson~
Some days I am so uncertain; uncertain that I made the right
move or took the right fork in the road. Then I have to say to myself – ‘Well
there is no turning back now so get on with it and learn from it.’ Then there
are other days where I am so happy with the turn I took that I wonder where the
uncertainty came from because I am absolutely certain I will make it to the end
of the road somehow happy with my journey.
Well with all that being said I am enjoying my data
collection. First I am happy just because I am actually doing data collection,
I wasn’t sure I was going to make it this far at some point but I did!!
Secondly, I have met or spoken to some pretty amazing and adventurous people. I
guess another thing that I am enjoying, is that I get to explore the ‘why’ of
these adventurous peoples’ behaviour and particularly why they are so different
from me :) Wonderful!!! Thirdly, I am having to step out of my comfort zone and go to some
lengths I didn’t anticipate to find
participants for this first stage of the data collection (as demonstrated 2 blogs ago) so I am learning more
about myself and what I am willing to do to succeed.
Something else that has come from being at a different stage
of my research is the discovery of it all. Did I mention that this means that I am not currently reading
literature! A huge thumbs up – and yes I know I have to go back but I am not
doing it now… and I have drifted. Back to the point – the fact that I am taking
all those months of reading and shaping it into something that I can present as
my own is overwhelming, satisfying and comforting if only because I have gotten
so far.
Moreover, there is also this school of thought that you have
to come into research with a passion for your subject matter. Hey! I don’t
debate that that works and I am sure many a successful body of research is completed
when the researcher starts the process with an intense passion. However, I am
learning that, as with some other things in life, passion can develop later in
the research process. One cannot develop a passion for something unless you
have been exposed to it in some way, and heaven knows that what I have settled
on researching I only became aware of very recently but that does not mean that
I am not enjoying learning about it, revelling in my development and soaking it
all up like a sponge. I am collecting data!!! Sound de horn!!!!
