Be True to Yourself and Do Right By Your Kids If You Have Them. This is a motto that I have tried to adopt. It is also the advice that a very good friend gave me a long time ago. The issue is it is easier said than done. My decision to return to school has been a long hard decision. I have had previous college experience and it was an awful experience. It was a very expensive lesson on why I should never let anyone control my destiny but me! It cost me three years on a degree that I can not ever use and $30,000 in student loans. After getting that burnt, I admit I have been very gun shy on returning.
After very careful consideration I realized that if I continued to let the past experience taint my career and education aspirations, then I was not reaching my full potential anyways. This would be a bigger loss than the bad experience I had with school. So as I reflect and answer how college has changed my life so far, I have to draw on what I have learned so far.
On a daily basis, I find that I am more driven to accomplish my goals. I have found that I am more responsible than I was. I find that I use my Franklin Covey Planner more. I have also found that more people want more of my time than when I was not in school. I have to admit I have always had issues with Balance. So I am really working on this issue. Being a college student is great but if you are neglecting my family or work or self then what good is to be a college student.
My outlook on life has changed now as well. I realize that I am probably the " Senior Citizen" of my classmates at 42 years old. Most people go to college at a much younger age, this can be a double edge sword for me as well when I graduate. Lets face it everyone is going to be applying for the same jobs, no matter what age they are. I guess I look at it in this way: it drives me to learn the most I can about a subject or degree. I feel everyone needs to specialize and be an expert in what ever they want to do. My outlook on my goals has changed as well. I have found that my goals have changed very recently.
Assessing where you are in life and what you want is not a bad thing when it comes to goals. I have found that I have to clean my slate and start new. This is not a bad thing either. I think that I have come to the conclusion that some of my goals have been based on what other people have expected of me and not necessarily what I have wanted. This is probably the main reason that I have not had too much success in accomplishing them. As a college student. I have found that I have an opportunity to prioritize things and in doing so, it means that I have had to really look at life to see what are the acceptable challenges and what are not.
It has been a short time since I have began at Hesser, in this time, I have had a rebirth of sorts. I have a better picture of where I want my life to be in 5 years and in the next year. I think that by developing goals based on this will continue to help me. I want to have a career that actually gives meaning to my life. I learned that I am a "spiritual person" so I believe all things are connected. I am at the age where I believe that it is important to leave my mark on the world in a positive way. Through this assignment, I have had a change to reflect and think about what impact am I having through my actions or lack of actions. I realize that being a college student has really helped me see my part in what I want to do and who I ultimately want to be. The hard part is following through with my goals but it is part of my motto of being true to yourself.
New Strategies I am learning to use to make life work is to realize that I can not do every single thing that college asks of me. I can do 90% of it. Having said this, I am utilizing a Master Calendar. I like being able to see everything that is due and it gives me control over scheduling in other important things in my life. I am also using the time sheets. I really like this idea. I am using my planner in a better way now as well. I am also learning to say no more. I realize that this seems like a silly thing but when people insist on stealing all of your time on stupid things constantly, you have to say NO.
I am also learning to cut out all the "CRAZY MAKERS" What is a crazy maker you may ask? They are the people, and I will include situations, who are crazy and since you are not crazy, want to drive you there with all their unnecessary crisis's. Think of it this way: A lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part. I am not saying that I will ignore people who have legitimate crisis's but I can not succeed as a college student or any other aspect of like if I am constantly dealing with people who want to cause issues. These are the people who do not want to see me happy in life, they are miserable so I should be miserable as well. Since I have become a college student, I have found that I am making changes in my life that are not super popular with some people but it is for my success.
In an ideal world, I would like to see myself with no less than a B in every class, to be 105 lbs again and 12% body fat, I would like to see myself in a career as a victim advocate helping people who really need help. I feel that college can help me with this dream. I see myself inspiring other's to their own greatness, whatever that may be for them. It all starts with taking small steps in college and learning who this new person is. It is a journey of self discovery. Belief is a Powerful thing! Challenging yourself is also powerful thing. What you believe has more of a impact on what happens than anything else. If you see good things then you will get good things because you will automatically start to attract them, you will automatically make positive changes to accomplish things. I know this to be true. All I have to do is clear out the garbage in my life, replace it with good goals and work hard and things will end positively.
I believe in myself therefore I control my destiny!
In having no time constraints in writing this paper, I have found that I am free in my thought processes. I am able to be more fluid and honest in my writing and reflection. I really enjoyed this assignment. In a way it is a good "dump session" in a logical way. We all need to be able to reflect and assess life so we see where we are going and how well what we are doing works.
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