Life happens. And as a young adult recently out of high school, life happened to me fast-- way faster than I expected.
I was an idealistic 18-year-old with grand schemes of living the traditional 4-year college experience, relishing the excitement of living in a dorm with my peers, inspired by the prospect of exploring fascinating subjects accessible only through higher education, and looking forward to a shiny new degree with a shiny new career that was sure to follow.
Well, "best laid plans," right? Life happened. I found myself thrown into the nose-to-the-grindstone working world, taking whatever job or two that I could get so that I could pay the rent on my tiny apartment and keep the electricity on. But I didn't completely tuck away those college schemes. The idea was to keep on keeping on, and "someday" I'd be able to bring the schemes out into the light, unroll them and lovingly lay them back across the drawing board, dust them off, and build the life I had envisioned. Someday.
Out of necessity, "someday" kept being put off. That plateau that would serve as a resting place in life where I could stop, breathe, think for a while, gather my resources, and put my schemes into action just never seemed to come. Months whirled by, then they blurred together and spun into years. Suddenly, I was 24 years old. No degree, no prospects, no direction, no ideas how to get unstuck. I was surviving, not living--and certainly not anywhere close to the life that I'd seen for myself years before.
I was working in retail at the time. One day, a woman who was temporarily working in the store for a few days, idly initiated a conversation with me. For some reason, the topic of college came up and I only happened to mention how much I wished I could go. This woman-- a random, complete stranger to me-- said I should consider the College for Lifelong Learning (the former name of Granite State College), and explained how it's a school that offers affordable college study and continuing education degree programs. My life has never been the same.
Read my new blog post to find out what happened next!
I was an idealistic 18-year-old with grand schemes of living the traditional 4-year college experience, relishing the excitement of living in a dorm with my peers, inspired by the prospect of exploring fascinating subjects accessible only through higher education, and looking forward to a shiny new degree with a shiny new career that was sure to follow.
Well, "best laid plans," right? Life happened. I found myself thrown into the nose-to-the-grindstone working world, taking whatever job or two that I could get so that I could pay the rent on my tiny apartment and keep the electricity on. But I didn't completely tuck away those college schemes. The idea was to keep on keeping on, and "someday" I'd be able to bring the schemes out into the light, unroll them and lovingly lay them back across the drawing board, dust them off, and build the life I had envisioned. Someday.
Out of necessity, "someday" kept being put off. That plateau that would serve as a resting place in life where I could stop, breathe, think for a while, gather my resources, and put my schemes into action just never seemed to come. Months whirled by, then they blurred together and spun into years. Suddenly, I was 24 years old. No degree, no prospects, no direction, no ideas how to get unstuck. I was surviving, not living--and certainly not anywhere close to the life that I'd seen for myself years before.
I was working in retail at the time. One day, a woman who was temporarily working in the store for a few days, idly initiated a conversation with me. For some reason, the topic of college came up and I only happened to mention how much I wished I could go. This woman-- a random, complete stranger to me-- said I should consider the College for Lifelong Learning (the former name of Granite State College), and explained how it's a school that offers affordable college study and continuing education degree programs. My life has never been the same.
Read my new blog post to find out what happened next!
Powered by Compendium
Comments for Life Happens