I am different.

I'm thrilled to report that my master's certificate arrived a few days ago. I still need to attend graduation in January to close out this chapter of my life, but I earned my degree. It means everything to me.

Looking back, I realize the personal sacrifices I had to make to earn my bachelor's and master's degrees were significant. For the past three years I spent countless hours in front of our home computer, typing until my hands hurt and my ass went numb. I gained thirty pounds. I spent thousands of dollars on textbooks and textbook rentals. I was forced to ignore my family to write papers on topics I didn't care about and won't remember. I skipped church services for a year and a half to dedicate Sundays to my coursework. Some weekends I worked ten or twelve straight hours on both Saturday and Sunday with just a few breaks to use the bathroom and eat. I broke down in tears as I toiled through math classes that dredged up memories of absolute failure in middle school. I lugged my laptop and books with me everywhere. I got up at the crack of dawn to work in hotel business centers while on vacation. I remained focused, though there were many distractions and my heart wasn't always in my work. My grandmother - who was so proud that I was earning my graduate degree - died just before my final class. In no way has this journey been an easy one. And now that it's all done, I have tens of thousands in student loans repay.

What did I learn through this experience? For one thing, I have a whole new respect for adults who choose to pursue higher education, especially those with full time jobs and kids. I learned to write for specific audiences and purposes, manage my time, and plan my workload. I already knew I worked well under pressure, but this experience showed how to maintain momentum over longer spans of time. I learned who my true friends were; they're the ones I could count on to understand why I wasn't able to hang out with them on the weekends, but they still asked me anyway. I learned I have no interest in pursuing a doctorate unless it is a) easy, b) pays for itself and/or c) there are really good reasons for me to do so (six figures, for example). I formed alliances with my coworkers. I have a renewed appreciation for my family, who understood mine was a goal I could not achieve without their support. And while my empathy for individuals and causes grew by leaps and bounds, my tolerance for ignorance, laziness, drama, and bullshit disappeared entirely.

I am different.

In closing, I leave you with a series of quotes that helped me get through difficult days and keep my eye on the prize:

"There is no greater education than one that is self-driven."
- Neil deGrasse Tyson

"Education must not simply teach work - it must teach LIFE."
- W.E.B. Du Bois

"In some parts of the world, students are going to school every day. It's their normal life. But in other parts of the world, we are starving for education... it's like a precious gift. It's like a diamond."
- Malala Yousafzai

"Education is the movement from darkness into light."
- Allan Bloom

"You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward."
- Conrad Hall

"I never lose. I either win or learn."
- Nelson Mandela

"A human being is not attaining [his/her] full heights until [she/he] is educated."
- Horace Mann

"The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education."
- Plutarch

"Why are fanatics so terrified of girls' education? Because there's no force more powerful to transform a society. The greatest threat to extremism isn't drones firing missiles, but girls reading books."
- Nicholas Kristof

"I know what it feels like to struggle to get the education that you need."
- Michelle Obama

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reflections on Reading, Identity, Career, and Achievement

When I first began this blog, I would read whatever I could get my hands on in time to accomplish my goal of one book a week for that first year. As a result, I read a lot of really terrible books. But that year was not spent in vain; I also read a lot of really good books that I enjoyed and seemed to all fit into similar genres. Eventually I realized that I kept returning to the same sections in Barnes & Noble - the social and behavioral sciences. I visited similar sections in the library - history, medicine, anthropology, biographies, self-help books. So I decided to began exploring these topics even further. 

Flash forward to 2013, when I had to choose a major to finish up my bachelor's degree. Of all of the programs offered at Thomas Edison State University, one topic piqued my interest: organizational leadership. The courses would be applicable to all different career fields, including my own: a nonprofit director. Then, just one month after beginning my classes, I was laid off. Thanks to the fantastic professional network I built while working for the nonprofit, I landed a job immediately and didn't miss a day of work or a paycheck. And I continued to work on my degree. 

It turned out that the science of leadership was a fascinating one. Not every class was easy (MATH REQUIRED) but I felt good about the major I had chosen. Of course, there were many theoretical courses, but others told the stories of previous leaders who had been instrumental in changing the course of business and in some cases, the course of history. In the end, my studies made me even more interested in history, sociology, and anthropology. I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Organizational Leadership in March 2016. 

Before I even finished my bachelor's degree, I decided that I wanted to join the top 12% of Delaware's population by pursuing my master's degree. I enrolled at Wilmington University for my Master of Science in Management and began accelerated classes as soon as I could. (I work for a hospital system in Delaware, so it made sense.) Once again, the study of sociology and anthropology came into play. A great deal of the work required for the degree focused on public health problems, medical ethics, the Affordable Care Act, medicinal marijuana, and economics. I did my thesis on the issues of mental health and substance abuse and recommended the clubhouse model as a solution that could be implemented nearby the hospital where I work. I finished the coursework for my master's degree in June of this year and received word just a few days ago that my degree was conferred.

Books have been part of my personal development for many years, but it was only in the past few that I realized how important a role they continue to play in my professional development. I've read books that have given me clues about how to move forward in different aspects of my life and career. I've read books that have made me more sympathetic to the plight of those less fortunate than me. I've read books that have taught me about the brain and its inner workings and why I am the way I am and why you are the way you are. The path that was set before me as a child has been forever altered because of reading.

 

I urge you to make reading a priority in your life, if for no other reason than because it has done so much for me.