Hi everyone I am back. People have asked me about my transition into full time school when I have not been to school in 25 years. I have to say it has not been difficult. I think having passion in something and knowing you want to do it is a huge factor in adjusting. Mentally knowing and knowing from your heart help you prepare to set the stage for attaining the goal you set out to achieve. Financially it has been a little tough. My class schedule makes it a bit tough to find a supporting job. But really when you know what the completion of school will bring it truly makes it easier to live with a little less. Especially when faced with what future clients are going through in their lives. They have next to nothing and are forced to live this way. Maybe because of a mental illness that puts up barriers for progression in their lives. Maybe because of an addiction that has caused them to function less effectively.
I have a roof over my head and food on my table every day so I cannot and will not take this for granted. Reminding myself of the reasons I am doing this makes it extremely easy to stay focused. Seeing the reasons I am doing this right before my eyes makes that much easier to adjust to the changes I have had to make. Compassion is huge in this field of study and I have been blessed with vast amounts of this. Not to the point that it would affect my studies but enough to keep me on the right track. I have much more with the little that I may have right now than most of the people that I am setting out to help and support. I can’t help these people in a financial way so if I can give them my support and knowledge then I can be happy with that.
Honestly, I am keeping a pretty decent grade throughout the first three months of this course. It hasn’t been nearly as difficult as I may have thought it would be. The assignments are for the most part fun so again it is easy to remain focused. The class I am in is such a unique group of people that all care. It makes it extremely easy to work with them. I (believe it or not) actually look forward to coming to school every day. That, I have to admit, has surprised the heck out of me. All the instructors I have had have been helpful and listen to my questions when I ask. They genuinely want us to succeed. Most schools in my past experience could care less as long as your tuition is paid.
The program advisor here has asked me how I am doing on a regular basis so the common theme here is care. The people here care and that is what is important to me. Stenberg College is a genuine group of people that put a program together to help people. That is my point. Knowing this makes it not much of an adjustment at all. It sort of just slides into place and the feeling is amazing. You will only know that feeling if you can be here to feel it. The support here from classmates and staff doesn’t let you feel much of a mental burden. They teach you how to deal with mental stress very early on and it is effective. They also have a course at the beginning that really helps you build study habits. At the beginning I knew little to nothing about computers, I always had to ask my wife to do things for me on PCs. Now after a week course on computers I am nearly as functional as she is on one. That blew me away. So the conclusion I have come to on adjusting is, I am just adjusting. It is easy and comfortable and to this point in class I have felt very little to no stress thanks to the layout of the course and the people supplying me with information to succeed. I have full confidence in myself and my fellow classmates. Thanks for reading and I’ll write at you again soon.
