Completing a higher degree is a complex and demanding undertaking for doctoral students. Along with the cognitive demands of study, there are competing personal and contextual factors which contribute to stress for students during the process. This study seeks to contribute to existing literature by acknowledging the characteristics of the interplay of various roles and identities, along with the doctoral topic on student's mental health and perseverance with higher degree studies. Through a collaborative autoethnographic approach, three academics used an arts-based methodology to reflect on our experiences of completing a doctorate which focused on a topic of disability, of which we had lived experience as carers. Data was examined through Pekrun's control value theory to explore the roles and identities we held during our study, the impact of our unique positionality, as well as the emotional impact from investigating a topic which may have been too close to home.