Having had a blow out over this past Bank Holiday Weekend, and the prospect that the next public holiday is not now until Christmas- what has the rest of the 2015 got in store? To sum it up in one word ‘transition terror’, so why not theme my first blog post around this.

What do I mean by ‘transition terror’…I am in the final stretch of finishing off my postgraduate taught masters at the University of Birmingham (UoB), and also in the last month of my notice in a network facilitator job in Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at UoB. Having decided to commit to a PhD I am now really hitting the terrifying stage of- okay this getting real, the next three years of my life are accounted for. Plus this will involve a tremendous amount of words and research to be done- I am now terrified.

The first port of call is Facebook, what are my friends ‘doing’ in their virtual life, can I find justification out of that to becoming a professional student? Of course Facebook shows me friends who are travelling, buying houses, having kids or even deleting social media in order to pursue adulthood.

If social media cannot help, what can ease my feelings of terror?

Bizarrely going to a professional development talk at the library today helped! Yes, if you cannot already tell I am a bit of a geek. But hear me out. In learning about new software (Kudos) to enhance research my ‘transitional terror’ began to ease. For a number of reasons:

• I was one of the youngest at the talk, most of the other people were in the midst of their academic lives and life more generally. Therefore, maybe actually the transition never ceases, and I do not need to panic but just accept that things constantly change.
• I made a good life choice pursuing a PhD, I think research and the way the more general research agenda is going in the UK suits my current outlook. I want to become an academic (frightening prospect) but I do not just want to produce journals, books and do countless lectures. I want to engage with my research and industry- that is going to be to do with sport.
• I am transitioning into a sports based PhD, and acquiring new skills and making some bold moves (such as starting a blog) so actually where I am right now is a good starting point. Yes it is a ‘terrifying transition’ moving from UoB to the University of Worcester come October the 5^th, but actually the excitement outweighs the terror.

The post bank holiday hangover has actually done me good, having reflected on ‘transition terror’ I now feel excited and ready to embark on a change.

VPos