Work/ School Balance

In 2020 I did a virtual writer’s conference and loved it. I loved every piece of it. I learned so much from it and I remember thinking, I’d like to be one of those presenters sometime. I’d like to be able to stand up and teach a class, knowing that I was qualified. I also wanted to absorb everything about writing and literature that I could.

Sitting in a recliner in my living room I started looking up Bachelor’s degrees in English. I didn’t want to say anything to anyone about it. While it was an exciting thing and something that should be shouted from the rooftops, I was ashamed. I hadn’t made it through the first time and I’d started so many thing only to quit later. So what was to say I wouldn’t quit this time? What if I made a horrible decision? What if I’d just ruined my life by doing this spur of the moment thing?

I ended up applying to two universities and was accepted to both. I decided to go to the University of Maryland Global Campus. At that point, I had only told a select few people. I hadn’t even told my mom. I was afraid she’d be mad at me. I don’t know if she’d think I was wasting my time or just be mad that I was taking school on. I was afraid people in general would laugh at me because there I was, 36 and going back to college for English of all things. A liberal art where the degree leads to very few places.

I was wrong. I think everyone reading this could figure that out. My mom was very supportive of me going back to school. I should have known, she was a teacher. Of course, she would support me going back to school. There was not one person who said I was making a mistake. I had a huge support system, which I needed and still need.

So there I was, everyone, quitting college because Covid was making education hard, and I was enrolling in college. It was the best decision I ever made. I may have a few regrets in my life, but enrolling in college while working as a full-time pharmacy tech was not one of them. There were a few times I questioned my decision after working an 11 hour shift and still having to come home and write a paper or when I took on way too much at one time. But that initial decision was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.