(based on a true story)
WEEK 1: Do as little as possible I.
Author recommends - 1) shopping (you're broke anyway and probably didn't have time to buy anything new for ages). If lucky this will coincide with change of season or change of economic status and sudden need for winter coat/ bikini/fancy outfits for post-degree real-world job , 2) cheesy daytime television and trashy novels (if reading still requires too much intellectual capacity, stick to the daytime soaps), 3) call/visit family and closest friends to let them know you're still alive.
WEEK 2: Do as little as possible II.
Author recommends - Go to the beach! Bring lots of trashy novels! If located in a northern/ southern part of the world and it's off-season for the beach, it's time to bring out those last savings (remember, broke anyway) and start searching for cheap getaways in exotic locations. If not at all like this author and palmtrees and exotic breezes don't sound tempting at all. Please do at least get out of the city. It cannot not healthy to watch daytime soaps 24/7 for more than a week.
WEEK 3; Time to think about getting a life I
Author recommends - 1) Get in touch with still neglected family and friends (time to show off the newly acquired tan anyway). 2) Forgot how to cook anything but take-away while finishing? Now is the time to re-familiarize yourself with skills from your forgotten past (it's also cheaper to cook for yourself.... which you will know to appreciate by now). 3) Forgot to excercise while sitting bent over the computer getting finger cramps and piling on the pounds from stashes of emergency chocolate (and the take away)? Well time to do something about that too.
WEEK 4: Time to think about getting a life II
Author recommends - 1) keep up the ambitious plans from week 3. It looks so easy to run for half an hour, but after an average excercise level on the order of "walk from chair to kitchen to get cup of coffee" for months - believe me, it's not! 2) get a social life (chances are some of your friends have gotten tired of waiting around for you are are now calling someone else first if they want to go to the movies), 3) time to quit (OK, cut back on) the daytime soaps and the trashy novels and go to the back of your brain to re-vitalize whatever interests you used to have. This author has visited the local, public library twice in the past six weeks and came home with a loads of great - but completely non-dissertation related - books both times. And they are being read!
WEEK 5: Time to face the real world
Author recommends - .... well, this cannot be recommended at all, but must be done anyway. 1) show up at advisors office/ department/ professional context. Many academic professionals do not grasp the concept of recovery from any kind of hard academic work, and hence do not understand why you didn't continue showing up in the office/ in the lab every day after getting rid of the book - after all that is the meaning of life! well, stop by and appear to be interested in what's going on for a couple of hours, then you can go back home and do whatever you prefer to do with your time right now. 2) face it, that emails regarding various professional commitments are not going to go away just because you don't answer - time to get back in the game and think about what lies ahead.
WEEK 6: Last chance to rest.....
Author recommends- lots of sleep, fresh air, good food, excercise (hmmmm......not too good results on this one), spending lots of time with loved ones, reading fun books, watching movies and get used to the thought that you will have to open your dissertation again sometime soon.