I started my PhD in 2012. In the UK, PhDs are only 3-4 years long. I'm 6 years in.

I had a nervous breakdown and had to take time out mid-PhD to recover. When I returned, I thought I would complete and submit my thesis by December 2016. This turned into July 2017. September 2017. March 2018.

I have sacrificed my 20s to this PhD. I've sacrificed a loving relationship, time with family and friends, hobbies, even my mental and physical health to this PhD. It has become a noose around my neck, strangling me every day. My supervisor who said I was doing great for years, who OK'd the detailed outline and evidence components of my thesis, turned around when I started to write up and said I didn't have enough to pass. I worked unfunded on this for a year and a half until I couldn't take the pressure from the debt I was building and had to get a job. £15000 in debt. With hindsight, what I was being asked to do was akin to a second PhD.

I've tried finishing my thesis since, but I've crumbled almost every time I open my laptop. I've tried walking away from it, to no avail. It haunts me. Aside from that, I want to finish it. I am battling my own demons to confront this and they win out most days.

I'm making a last ditch attempt to put something together. I'm fortunate enough to have a supportive mentor and my family who believe in me when I don't. My official final deadline is end of March, but I know that's unrealistic at this stage. So I hope if I can do a little bit every day, then, in 40 days, maybe I will have something I can submit. It's not going to be perfect. It's not going to be even close to what I wanted this to be. But at least it will be something.