I still remember those days when I was stuck in the PHD dissertation writing. Those days could be called tough days which I would keep in my mind for my whole life.  I had to stay all day long in the front of computer, thinking, programing, computing and writing.  How to call that kind of life? maybe suffering. Even now , I have gone through those tough days and could review it with an easy state,  but there would always be something byond expression rising up from the very core of my heart.

However, one thing  gave me an inspiration in that hard time, and it made me feel better.

There is a lake just nearby our campus, and it had become my favoriate places to release my pressure since I started my dissertation. A small carpolite path wriggle its way along the lake, and that’s the daily routine for my after-dinner walk. I usually took the anti-clockwise walk along the lake every day because it seems more comfortable for me to turn right.

I like the watery clear air, the soft wind, and the stars in the sky. All of this could make me calm down and forget the bothering dissertation thing.  This is my favoriate time of the day.  I saw the same scene  every day, even almost the same walking people. However, I did not notice this at first because I only concentrated on the ease time and almost lived in my own world.

Things changed one day when I made a decesion to turn left. Until now, I still could not remember why I changed my usual routine, maybe it’s just a coincidence, or a random unconscious decesion. So I walked along that path with a clockwise direction.  This path was still that familliar path, but when I looked around,  a totally different sight spreaded in the front of me.  Different people, different light, different view of trees, even different stars in the sky. Suddenly, there is something sparkled in my mind. Yes,  There would be a totally different sight if I could  turn around in the way walking ahead

During those days, I workd hard to go ahead, and always told myself to hold on even though that’s really a hard time. I thought that I was going ahead.  I did not have much time to think it over. I should admit that I was a little depressed at those days under that heavy pressure. But the sparkle gave me an inspiration that night. What if I was in the wrong direction?  What if I was doing somthing which does not deserve that much effort?  I had no idea at that time. But I realized that I really need to take a break and think it over.

I did get something after a little break. It’s myself who made those days so tough. Sometimes, I wanna do thing in a perfect way and wanna get a perfect result.  I am that kind of guy. When I was doing my research those days, I wanna get a deeper insight into it, and wanna propose some more creative idea. But thing always becomes more complicated as you know more about it. That’s the pleasure to do the scientific research and also the bitterness of a researcher sometimes.

I realized that  I need to slow down or even turn around to see what I have got more than  concentrating too much on what I have not reached. The dissertation is a kind of summarize of my past work during the reading for PHD time, and it needs not to be perfect because it’s impossible to be perfect. The unresolved problems could be investigated in the future work.

Life became bright after I realized that, and I completed my PHD dissertation in the next several months and also made a schedule for the future work.

Maybe that night is only a regular night, but that “turn left” does give me a inspiration in those “turn right” days.  It indicates that changing the regular way might give some new ideas.  Now, I usually leave me some time to think over what I am doing in a different way.

Turn around, I found a different sight!   Turn around, I will find a different sight!