I've had similar funks throughout my PhD and thesis-writing experiences. It's hard to fish out the mantras that kept me going at those times (though I have back

I've had similar funks throughout my PhD and thesis-writing experiences. It's hard to fish out the mantras that kept me going at those times (though I have backed them up in notes that I will revisit after some distance from the time), but a recurring one was: I'm going to feel like shit whether I do or don't do anything, so I might as well do something Discussing some issues with friends and/or others in your cohort will likely make you feel less alone than browsing other doomposts on r/GradSchool. With writing in particular, I've recently felt handwriting to be the limit of my writing production, i.e. given a fixed length of time, my output will be independent of whether I wrote or typed it. The affordance of writing slows me down just enough to craft the same text I would've (re)^(n)typed on computer. Writing is also more expressive and makes it easier to forget about my butt in the chair.