Seventeen years ago, I graduated high school. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I liked TV/radio but I felt a calling toward Psychology. Psychology required too much additional school. I was ready to be DONE! I decided on community college, mostly because of a BOY. That decision started a chain reaction that would have every effect on my life. Life happened and two years later, I was marrying a different boy and becoming a mom. School got put aside. I wanted to get a degree. My ex husband had this way of claiming to encourage me and then get mad at me for things. I figured I would go back to school when I was really old, and at that point I would get it as kind of a bucket list type thing.
As my divorce grew near, I began going back to school…for nursing. I have the utmost respect for nurses, I personally did NOT like Anatomy and Physiology.
I got divorced, remarried, had a couple more kids, moved twice. Somewhere in that time I earned my Associate’s degree in Social-work. It was probably my biggest accomplishment. It was me showing the world that I took ME back.
I enrolled right away at Cedar Crest College and became a Psychology major. I decided that I needed to answer my calling after all and I didn’t care how long it would take. It took about four years to earn my BA, even starting wit advanced standing. I was busy with my kids and husband and all the demands of raising a family. I took 2 classes a time.
I was supposed to graduate last May. Silly me, decided to save a required statistic course for last and sillier me, I decided to try taking it online. Yeah…no. I ended up withdrawing and had to wait until it was offered this spring.
In January of 2015, I started my hypnosis training. I figured it would be a nice addition to my therapy practice…eventually. Well, I left Psychology for another major so to speak. I fell madly in love with hypnosis and decided to change my plans.
I knew I still wanted to get my BA. Seriously, I was 1 class short, why wouldn’t I get it? Well, today I walked down the aisle, shook the president of the college’s hand, and graduated!
Why did I just share such a personal story? For a couple of reasons really. First of all, I am still pretty excited that I now have completed college! Second, I want to remind everyone to be flexible. Sometimes things happen for a reason. I know hypnosis is my true calling but if I didn’t allow my plans to change, I would have never found out. Sometimes you need to go with the flow. Sure, I was disappointed that I didn’t graduate last year, but withdrawing from that class gave me more time to study hypnosis 🙂 Third, sometimes the reasons you do things change. Getting my degree was my goal for myself but I also wanted to show my kids that you can do anything! Yes, I had a lot to overcome but I did it! You can too!
Finally, I share this because I want you all to remember that time goes on no matter what. It has been 17 years since I left high school. I JUST now received my degree. Guess what? 17 years would have passed no matter what. I could be sitting here with no degree, no certificates, nothing. The same amount of time would have passed. If you have a goal, go for it! It doesn’t matter if it is going to take you the rest of your life to complete. That time will pass either way, make it count!
