Hi Maddie,
Congratulations on your PhD!!
On a personal note, upon BA graduation, I decided nah. I went a while without a direction. Then I found a job and a direction. So, I do have a glint of an idea of your experience.
Building on Inky’s point about creating something that is yours, if your thesis does not fly, I say:
1. Sit in your barrel of lemons and make lemonade. Remain there for a while. But don’t get bitter because of step 2.
2. ‘Travel’ to find something totally new like perspectives and experiences. It must be uncomfortable even disruptive.
3. Go to step 1 – loop until aha moment(s).
Have you ever watched the Brene Brown talk on Ted.com? She describes working on her research and finding interesting things about herself – that she developed to help herself and others, based on research, soul searching, and analysis.
You learned how to ask questions in your PhD program. How to establish a hypothesis. How to gather and sift data.
Get a few nice moleskin notebooks and get busy!!
Some guys will notice your energy / passion, and they will be attracted to you.
What do you think?
Big blue
Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 