I’ve had my head buried in the books (actually, eyes glued to a screen) for the past year and a half.
Way back in 2002, I was starting grad school and becoming a first time mom in the same year. Grad school got put “on hold” after just one semester because I decided I wanted to immerse myself in my new role of mommy. And I did just that and absolutely loved it!
The following years were filled to the max as I had a three more babies, homeschooled, started a business, adopted three more children, homeschooled some more, got divorced, and spent a few years just trying to keep my head above water.
Then in 2021, I realized 20 years had gone by **in a flash** and I never finished that Master’s degree I had just barely started all those years ago.
So January 2022 began my new mountain to climb. Being a graduate student later in life is a whole different ballgame. Fitting in research and projects and exams between taxiing kids around to schools, homeschool co-ops, orthodontist appointments, sports practices/games, and on and on, was probably the hardest thing I’ve done as a single mom. The stress-level has been higher than I prefer around here for a while for sure. I knew the load would be heavy and I took time to mentally prepared for it before I started. I was ready for a short-term time of feeling over-burdened, knowing that the finish line was not too far off. But still, it stretched me beyond what I had planned.
I finished my last class a few weeks ago and have been a little bewildered by the weekends free from studying. It feels so good to be finished! Accomplished! It was ridiculously hard. I cried a lot and had way more self-doubt than I’m used to. But I not only finished, I finished well and I’m so thankful that I had the love and support that helped me stick it out.
The path one takes in life is rarely linear. Most paths are filled with bumps in the road, detours, and times of circling around in the same spot for a while. I want to prepare my kids for this reality. I want to make sure to teach them to never give up if they really want something and encourage them to keep their eyes looking beyond the current moment. Keep looking at the goal, keep working toward it. If you lose sight of it, don’t beat yourself up. Just reset, refocus, and take another step in that direction and keep taking steps no matter how long it takes.
I got my M. Ed. in Instructional Design and Technology. I have absolutely loved delving into the psycholgy of adult learning theory and how people learn. We humans are fascinting creatures. One of my favorite things in my network marketing career has been the training of team members and then seeing their performance growth and increase in their businesses. It was these experiences that sparked my interest in instructional design.
I am specializing as a Learning Experience Designer and will be creating innovative training solutions (courses, microlearnings, job aids) for small businesses. Learning experience design focuses on creating not only well designed instructional content, but also ensures that it is human-centered, goal-oriented, and engaging for the learner. I am also looking forward to working with professionals such as personal development authors, life coaches, health coaches, or anyone else who is ready to scale their business by offering courses. I can build some really awesome courses now.
So here I am, just finished that degree 20 years later. Not 20 years late though…. it’s acually right on time. This is the perfect time for this, maybe even divine timing. This new path is a synthesis of all of the parts of me that I am now that I wasn’t back then. That love of learning and the deep interest in the human experience has always been there, but now I have years of life experience. I am grateful and excited for what’s to come.
