A little fun fact – I always wanted to be a lawyer. I’d have to say not so much anymore, but growing up, if money grew on trees I would have been nose to the grindstone. Instead, I resorted to telling people I was going to be a lawyer in my next life and that little story suited me just fine. Why a lawyer? I don’t know, but I have a shared strength and weakness of being analytical.
It’s a strength for those complex issues that I’m trusted to provide a friend or boss advice or counsel about a situation far removed from my own life, but during my current life crisis it’s most certainly a weakness as I often find myself falling victim to Satan’s trickery – where he wants me to replay everything from my recent past and scrutinize every word, every detail.
Then yesterday happened.
Yesterday I applied for another Master’s Degree program. I can’t really tell you why. All I know is that for months I have been pondering my next career move. After being so sure of my professional ambitions for years, recently I began to feel paralyzed, unable to vision where to go from here.
Part of the difficulty is that I really like my job. I like the people I work with, I like what I do, I like the freedoms and trading my supervisory position for one where I am only responsible for myself. Yet, professional mentors caution me not to stay in this position too long for that very reason. It’s nice of them to fuel me with guidance, but again, I felt robbed of my ability to map out my short and long term plans so it quickly stressed me out. All I know is that I need to pivot at some point, but left or right? Your guess is as good as mine.
When the announcement came out through email at work, I read the opportunity and was immediately interested. It spoke to me. A Master of Studies in Law through George Washington University. The option to complete the degree program remotely, and the possibility for it to be 100 percent funded by my employer. A scholarship of sorts, worth more than $55,000. So I applied. Not for the degree program per se (as I know I’d undoubtedly get accepted), but for the tuition coverage.
If my application is compelling enough and I get selected, I know that it is my next career move, prepositioning myself to have options as a newly single mom. And, if I don’t, then I’ll be back to the drawing board. Either way I’m content. I’ll either have a lot of time of my hands to analyze my circumstance, or I won’t. Regardless, I know I am blessed.
Today, find 3 things in your life that you’re grateful for. Remember, there are circumstances about your life that someone else is praying for – kids, healthy kids, a career, an education, financial stability, clean bill of health, reliable transportation, a close knit family – the list goes on and on. Let’s not focus on the one or two things that don’t seem to be going right and instead focus on those that are.
