Today, I took a day off of work because the snow has finally gotten to me, and I do not like to drive when the roads are bad. Days like this usually make me pretty depressed, as I don't like to be trapped at home and away from my job or friends, but today it has made me rather thoughtful on my life and where it is heading.
Is it really strange for me to be twenty-three years old and just now looking at going to school? And is it even stranger still that I seem to be taking it in baby steps rather than rushing right in to a four year program right away?
For me, it doesn't feel strange. I mean, I realize that I come from a generation where going to college right after high school is almost expected, but that step really wasn't right for me, and I really don't think that I would have done such a good job at class and everything if I had gone at that point; and that's the honest to god truth. By the time I had graduated high school, I was so sick and tired of books and learning and class that I think that going to college at that point in time would have resulted in disaster.
So, here I am at twenty-three (soon to be twenty-four) years old and getting ready to embark into the adventure known as college in baby steps, as I am working a full time job while doing this. It all seems a little on the side of insanity, but I am more confident in myself now than I was at eighteen. It doesn't feel like the world is breathing down my neck with all of this hope and expectation. Instead, the only pressure that I feel is what I am placing on myself to succeed.
I guess it makes me a little unconventional, but I have walked the route of freshman statistic already, and I don't want to go that route this time. I tried the whole going to college thing when I was nineteen, thinking that a year off was enough to be ready. I stayed on campus, and I did well to start with, but ended up having a nervous breakdown about the end of the semester. I ended up having to withdraw, and I spent a lot of time traveling and working on myself to get ready for the fall semester that is inching ever closer.
I'm excited about the prospect of learning again, and I am thankful that unconventional is always ok in this country. While I have a lot of fear about schedule and burning out doing full time job and student at the same time, I'm not worried that I'm going to lose the opportunity for an education. There is no magic number that acts as a cut-off age, and I have until the day I die to get my diploma.
Hopefully, it will only take six years. Yes, my planned route means I will take six years to get my bachelors degree.
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