Finishing What I Started

Back in October of 2020, career-wise, things were looking a little bleak for me. I wrote a bit about that in this post. There was this one specific moment when I sat in my office and I just felt so out of place. I wanted to walk right back out the door and head home. It kind of lit a fire under my bum and I knew that something needed to change. So, after writing out my options I sat down to discuss things with my fiance. Like how I threw that in there? Eeks! He gave me his opinion and then told me I had his full support in whatever I decided to do. So, I took it to prayer. For a month, I prayed for guidance on what my next steps should be. And the only answer that kept coming back, over and over was: finish my degree. 

So with a bit of help, I gathered the money and paid off what I owed the local university so I could be removed from their “HOLD” status and reapply for admissions. The following week I submitted my application and applied for financial assistance. Within a few days, I received my acceptance letter and then had a meeting set for December to select my classes for the Spring 2021 semester. And while I had originally been on the path to getting a “Bachelor's of Business Administration” I wasn’t sure that was the right fit for me anymore. So, when my advising meeting came around I asked about my credits and the possibility of changing my degree. I mainly wanted to know how far back choosing a different major would put me. To my surprise, there wasn’t a need for me to change directions completely! My advisor told me that with the credits I already had I could choose between Administration, Accounting, Marketing, Human Resource, or Management. And then I could still minor in any of these other fields if I wanted to while still staying on track. After discussing my interests further I took my advisor’s recommendation to dabble a bit in each of these subjects to see which one I liked best for my first semester back. Then I’ll narrow it down to a focus, and as long as I do well I can graduate by the Summer of 2022. Spring of 2022 at the earliest! And y’all, I. AM. READY. So, ready! A little nervous, but also really ready to hold my degree in my hand and finally finish that chapter. 

The only downside to this is that due to how late I applied, I wasn’t able to get a good schedule to generate for me. Tarleton doesn’t allow you to handpick classes anymore; they're auto-generated. This means that I will have to attend some classes during the day. Now, when I had brought up going back to school to my employer at the beginning of 2020 I was told that the company would work with me so that I could keep my hours. Well, somewhere between then and now things changed and it doesn't look like I'll be able to stay on as a full-time employee. I’d been hoping to have the ability to make up time but I’ve been told that that’s no longer an option. And because of this, I’m also looking at a high possibility of losing out on my insurance benefits because that’s only offered to full-time employees. So, it looks like I'll have to figure out a few side jobs to supplement that income. Otherwise, we won’t make ends meet. And I’m praying that I don’t get sick or that anything major happens. But I’m not going to dwell on all of that too much. God has always provided when I needed it and I don’t think he’s going to let me down anytime soon. 

When I first started thinking about all of the obstacles in our way and the monthly payments we had to come up with I had some major anxiety. I even questioned whether I should have applied to go back to school at all. One night when I was feeling overwhelmed about everything Corey sat down with me and said, “We’ve got this. Even if we have to struggle for a little bit. Even if that means me taking extra jobs while you get this done. We will figure it out and you’re going to finish your degree. We can do this. It’s going to be okay.” And we’ve hit the ground running ever since. We’ve cut back on some of our unnecessary expenses, and I started budgeting for everything again. I used most of our savings to pay off credit cards and small debts so we don’t have extra payments here and there. Any stimulus payments or tax refunds we get will be split between paying off debt and putting way in savings. And our credit cards will only be used for medical emergencies/expenses that we can’t cover. Corey is also looking into selling his motorcycle so we won’t have an extra car payment, but I really hope it doesn’t come down to that. I enjoy that thing just as much as he does if not more. But like he said, “We can always get another one after you graduate.” Then my parents have offered to help us when it comes to Em’s after school activities & practices when we need it. Corey's parents have offered to watch Em on the evenings that she doesn't have after school stuff so I'm not having to drive so far to pick her up. This allows Emery to keep her day-to-day relatively normal. So, I think we’ve got a pretty good plan in place for now. Y’all! How awesome is this?! Obviously, it will be trial & error at first. We’ll have to adjust from time to time accordingly. But I’m so thankful for all of the help everyone is offering us! I’m beyond grateful for Corey’s support and encouragement as soon as this idea came to mind too. 

Now, I have a full course load ahead of me and the classes are pretty intimidating. The semester also starts tomorrow. So, this is why I said that my blog may take a bit of a back seat this year. It’s going to be a little rough for the first half of the year, and I really want to do well in all of my classes. I also know that we’re going to struggle a bit financially, and things will be pretty tight budget-wise. This means that any free time I get I need to put into a side hustle of some kind if possible. BUT, with all of that said, I also know that we can get through it. This schedule is temporary after all. And I know that this is a positive thing that will pay off in the long run. So, here’s to finally finishing what I started! Wish me luck or send prayers our way! Both would be appreciated! ✌