My College Journey

I don’t think I have ever gone into detail about my college journey and I thought it would be great to talk about considering school for all ages is a very popular topic right now. College isn’t for everyone. College doesn’t look the same for everyone. And that is okay. My college journey is long.. and spread out over a decade and then some. Don’t worry about how long it takes you to get your degree.. focus on the fact that you did it!

---

Although I am now working on my second bachelors degree… college wasn’t always something I enjoyed.

I graduated high school in 2006 and that August I was enrolled in the community college in a program I picked based off how easy ONE highschool class was.

I first went into accounting and that didn’t last long at all – one semester to be exact. I switched to early childhood development and that wasn’t the right fit for me either. In early 2007 I found out that I was pregnant with my now teenager and school went downhill from there, very fast. At 28 weeks I was put on bedrest and because I missed so much class I failed that semester. I decided that it was in my  best interest to take time off and focus on my pregnancy and my upcoming life as a mom. I ended up giving birth to my daughter 5 weeks early despite being on bedrest.

When I first decided to step away from college I was a little disappointed in myself but looking back it was the best thing I did. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life – let alone what career path I would go down. I knew that I would eventually go back.. I just didn’t know when or what program I would enroll in. If you would have asked my 19 year old self what program I was going to end up in it damn sure would not have been social work.. let alone a plan to work in a hospice agency.

Let’s fast forward to 2013. I am now working in management at a pharmacy and my daughter is 6 years old. I decided to go back and get a certificate that would allow me to advance in my job. I enroll in the program and classes started in August. January of 2014 I, again, find out I am expecting. My first thought was “not again…” I did not want to allow what happened with my grades and classes to happen again but at the same time I knew that I needed to do what was best for myself and my unborn child. Thankfully this pregnancy was much smoother than my first and I was able to stay in college. I completed my certificate in May of 2014.

While I was contemplating what to do next the human services degree kept jumping out at me. No idea why. I pushed it aside and decided that I did not want to jump into a full 2 year program when I was about to give birth in a few months. So, I took my certificate and was done.

In 2015 I went back after that human services degree. I was now a stay at home mom to two kids and wanted to branch out. I don’t know why the human services degree pulled at my attention for so long but I am incredibly glad that it did. I graduated with my associates of applied science in human services in 2017 and immediately went after my bachelors of applied science in human services. I finished my bachelors in May of 2019. I thought I was done. But I wasn’t.

During my associate program I had an internship at a hospice agency. I shadowed each of the disciplines and fell in love with what the social worker did. Looking back I wish I would have gotten my bachelors in social work the first time around, but that’s neither her nor there.

In June of 2019 I applied for a social work program and started taking classes in January of 2020. I am currently in my fourth semester and about 70% done with my second bachelors degree. I am now a mom to three daughters (13, 6, and 2) and homeschool my oldest two and have been for the last five years. It is not easy, even with help.. but it truly makes me happy. So I push through it.

Keep in mind that I started my journey in 2006.. I was 19. It is now 2021.. I am 32. When you go, how long it takes, how many times you change your major.. etc.. none of that matters! What matters is that you are making progress.

Progress over perfection. Always.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope that you continue to check back for new blogs.

xoxo