If I could do it all over again, of course, my common answer would be to stick with College right after high school. Little did I know that it's not just the common answer but the best advice I could give. I think my outcome in my professional life may have stayed the same, but it might have been an easier road traveled.
I've been in the Credit Union industry since the age of 18. I really thought to myself that I would just do this "teller" thing until a better job came along....15 years later...I'm still in the industry and loving my choice. I was able to use my "common sense" to get me far in my career, but it took one bad boss to tell me that I would never amount to anything more unless I had my degree.
Not only did I "really" want to prove her wrong, but I truly wanted to further my career and better myself. I to wanted that "piece of paper" to hang on my wall and to rub it back in her face. Luckily for me, my street smarts of the industry got me the dream position of running my own credit union as CEO of a small institution in El Reno, Oklahoma. Attending school was then on my terms and not of revenege.
Now, the hard facts, being in school for almost 3 years is proving to be more challenging the longer I stay in. School begins to interfer with work, work interfers with school, and both interfer with family. Work isn't just a Monday thru Friday 8 to 5 kind of job. There are monthly board meetings, committee meetings, Credit Union Councils, Chapter dinners, annual meetings, etc...It's almost to the point where some of the business classes I've had to hold off on because of the dates of class interfer with several work functions. But something had to give... But if my common sense stays strong and education skills follow...I can keep both dreams alive. As long as I focus on one subject at a time, I can be finished by December 2012.
So life as a working student is just as challenging as having a second job. But as we know, we can't change the past, we can just plan for a brighter future and take one day at a time.
Sometimes revenge is a driving force which after time and common sense, can turn our lives in directions we never knew we would go or at least point us in a direction to prove ourselves. I'm sure you had a will to go back to school but if that one bad boss had not told you what she did, would you have went after the degree when you did? Stick to it and for what it's worth, I think you have already proved her wrong.
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