The transition into school mode was much harder than anticipated. While I had made a habit of physically exercising my body, this was exercise of the mind that had me going from a slow walk to a sprint all at once. I'm not saying I'm dumb, but I was taking and processing more information than I had grown accustomed over this 10-year period which was physically exhausting!
Time grew more and more precious as I now had less of it. My normal routine was thrown out the window as I tried to fit homework and a night class into it. It wouldn't all fit. Something, at least for the time being had to give. I gave up scheduled exercise and creative writing to allow my body time to adjust and fit them in when I could.
My first class had me writing a research paper and studying for a final, tasks that consumed me. There was no room for frivolous thought or daydreams. I had to be completely focused. It felt much like the time in my UK adventure when I got lost in the English moor on Stanage Edge in the middle of nowhere or when I was standing on top of a telephone pole on a ropes course getting ready to jump to a trapeze bar which seemed impossible to reach. Much like those times, I didn't know if I would succeed but I gave my all to find out.
It's been six months since I began this graduate school adventure, now having two classes under my belt and beginning my third. My first final on Organizational Dynamics took 4 hours to complete which caused one classmate to tell the professor he was sadistic. I thought, "This is grad school. I need to suck it up." While the final was completely exhausting, I was quickly rejuvenated when my professor handed back my research paper, telling me it was "darn near publishable."
My second class involved team development which as the team leader felt at times like herding cats but was an overall rewarding experience in the friendships made. We created a skit that illustrated effective and ineffective team dynamics in an entertaining way by acting as a Hostess development team fictitiously trying to market the Twinkie internationally in Afghanistan. From experience I can say Twinkies filled with the bitter, vinegar taste of chutney is not a good combination.
I am proud to enter my third class with a cumulative grad school GPA of 4.0. While this is not a mandatory goal for me to keep, it is quite encouraging, especially in the beginning stages of re-entering academia. It's like when you're on a hike and you physically see a marker that's listed on your map. You know you're going in the right direction.
If this was not enough, recently my professor from my first class who is a lawyer, expressed to me how impressed he was by my work and contributions in his class that he thought I'd be a good lawyer. I have never thought about becoming a lawyer except when watching "Legally Blonde" when Elle Woods throws out the case clinching clue of 'ammonium thioglyocolate' and tells off her ex-boyfriend by saying, "If I'm going to be a partner in a law firm by the time I'm 30, I'm going to need a boyfriend who's not such a complete bonehead."
Secondly, he has been looking into different professional journals that would be appropriate to publish my research paper! I had been recently thinking about working on my paper to get it presentable so this comment was confirmation that I need to do this.
My eyes have just been opened to a new horizon of possibilities of where my life could go. I'm becoming aware that there's more for me out there than the safe confines I find myself in right now or what I even imagine to be possible. It's like when I reached the top of Stanage Edge, thinking I had achieved my goal, only to spy the beautiful landscape surrounding me, offering new places to explore made visible only from that vantage point.
It takes adventures such as these to dare us to dream differently, to dream divinely through God's eyes; to help us see our potential; and grasp the experiences in its wake. If I hang on tight, my life will never be the same.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." ~ Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV
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