Going Grad

After my latest trip trekking through the Isles, it appears I have created a reputation for myself that involves more than me hanging over the sides of cliffs. It's an expectation of living a life of adventure that has my faithful journey followers asking me this one question upon my return: "What is your next adventure?" With wafts of bagpipes, fiddles, and cool, Celtic brogues still lingering fresh in my mind, this question leaves me feeling like a newlywed being pressured to produce grand kids promptly after saying "I do". However, you know me too well. :)

While I continue to savor my latest travels, my next adventure leads me to a place I didn't know if I ever would experience - Graduate School. Once I completed my Bachelor Degree, the thought of furthering my education exhausted me, making me vow that sheer passion for a subject would drive me to enter into such rigor again.

Tomorrow I will begin such an adventure, on the path to earning a Masters of Arts in Organizational Leadership (MOL). In summary, I will be learning how to make order out of chaos in companies and in people which aligns directly with my heart's desire - to help people achieve their potential by becoming who God creating them to be.

With ten years between my Bachelors and this new adventure, I find myself in a very different place in life as an adult learner. This was illustrated to me today while bobbing and weaving down the school supplies aisle in between parents and grade school kids as I looked for a notebook that did not have Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers' pictures plastered on it. Coming from a world of business meetings, black portfolios and steno notepads, I felt a bit out of my comfort zone until I spied a plain, blue, college-ruled notebook. Ahhh... sanity!

It's also been hard to gauge how much of a class load I can handle while working full-time and trying to have some sort of life. This is why I have chosen to take a conservative class schedule, setting my completion date at the end of Fall 2011.

However, there are still many questions left unanswered as I prepare for tomorrow like how do I get a parking permit, where is my class located, and how much financial aid will I receive? My advisor, in a "take a deep break and don't freak out" tone, assures me answers will come, many being answered upon my arrival the first day of class. I'm learning they are a bit more easy-going than I would expect for a program focusing on organization, going against my organizational nature.

Despite this unknown, I feel God has taken this summer to prepare me for this adventure, pruning me, getting rid of distractions that can take away from my focus on the goal. While pruning can be painful and leaving one feeling alone at times, its then new fruit can blossom and grow, allowing one to become more vibrant than ever.

With this goal in mind, I will go with the flow and see where this adventure of 'going grad' takes me, hopefully with new-found knowledge I can apply supported with new networking opportunities, all wrapped up in a puffy cap and gown.