'Chit-Chat' With Taxi Driver Pushed Woman to Do Her PhD, She Succeeds Years Later
- A woman has taken to recounting the future-defining moment that she had a spontaneous conversation with a taxi driver
- Alex Mulligan, taking to Twitter, told of the tim an Uber driver encouraged her to follow through with her then-thoughts of doing a PhD
- She has since completed her first year of the PhD program with her subsequent tweet relaying the news going viral after attracting more than 128 000 likes
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The story of the powerful impact one stranger had on another is a profound one and a woman who is making huge strides academically is a shining example of this.
Alex Mulligan, whose handle is @ScientypicAl on Twitter, relayed the life-changing encounter that defined her future. Taking to the social networking site in recent days, Mulligan shared the inspirational story with her followers.
Source: Twitter
She wrote:
"Once, I was in an Uber and I told the driver I wanted to get a PhD but wasn't sure if I should because it's five or six years.
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"He told me whether I did the PhD or not, five or six years would pass, so, why not have a PhD at the end of it? Anyway, I just finished the first year of my PhD program.'
This simple story of having a random conversation with a stranger to making a life-defining decision based on that single interaction lit up social media as many others took to sharing their own inspirational stories and experiences.
Woman's lived experience attracts hundreds of reactions
Mulligan's tweet was liked more than 128 000 times, retweeted close to 12 000 times and attracted close to 400 comments.
@Pebbleworm1990 wrote:
"I'm a 31-year-old zookeeper wanting to pursue graduate school with the ultimate goal of getting a PhD. This tweet serves as inspiration. Thank you."
@BeaudfulMe shared:
"Congratulations! I'm in year 6 so my views are definitely different from yours, very much tainted. All I can say is make sure you are doing it for a GOOD reason. It is extremely difficult and can be taxing on your mental health."
@phdcookbook offered:
"This is exactly what I tell my friends who think they're too told to pursue something. Also, can that uber driver be my life coach?"
@chetsbabe added:
"My husband said the same thing to me when I told him I wanted to go to law school at 38. I went and have had my own practice for five years now."
“Halala doc”: Mzansi inspired by man who's celebrating his PhD at 29
In a previous report, Briefly News published that Tiyiselani Ndukwani is an inspirational man after bagging his PhD at the very young age of 29.
Ndukwani, who said he is now a role model to his students and friends, is a lecturer at Rosebank College, according to his bio. Interestingly, he shared that he was referred to as "Dr" even before making off with his first degree.
"I am a role model to many people, my students and my friends. My students started calling [me] Dr before I even registered for this degree.
"This motivated me to register for a PhD because I didn't want to disappoint them," said Ndukwani.
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Source: Briefly News
