#34 Supervisor is there to challenge you

By choosing the PhD journey, you have chosen to challenge yourself. You went out of the ordinary, out of your comfort zone, looking for ways to learn, acquire new skills, and grow.

The environment itself can be a challenge. People at work can deliver challenges. But ultimately, there is one person whose job is to challenge you – your PhD supervisor. Your supervisor will ask you uncomfortable questions and will ask you to do things you have not done before, all to provide opportunities for you to learn from.

We can see our supervisor as a persecutor or as a challenger. In the first case, we become a victim, running away from the persecutor, while in the second case, we become the creator who embraces the situation and looks for ways to learn from it. (inspired by the Karpman drama triangle, and the inverse – empowerment triangle)

This learning can be anything from asking what you need from your supervisor to leaving the place having learned that you do not want to be a part of a toxic environment.

This may look scary, and it is if it challenges you. Challenges come with a sense of discomfort and unease, which stays with us until we go to the other side and turn the challenge into a norm. This challenge now becomes something you are familiar with and becomes “normality”.

This scenario has happened already so many times in your life. But most often it happens in tiny portions, so over time it seems that it was always like that. And one day the challenges that you are facing now will become a part of you that you can easily handle. Some of them will become your superpowers. 😊

If this post or podcast episode inspired you to reach out, here is the link to the discovery call: https://calendly.com/phdtalk-marija/phd-talk

See you there! 😊

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