tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732914202383807198.post4355996698955991598..comments2012-07-12T15:25:33.298-06:00Comments on Serendipity's Ditchdigger: PROOF OF LIFEGabriela Ruszczakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02279878244816387168noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732914202383807198.post-71239532423652697112012-07-12T15:25:33.298-06:002012-07-12T15:25:33.298-06:00Your words are wise and compassionate... I will ta...Your words are wise and compassionate... I will take them to heart...Gabriela Ruszczakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02279878244816387168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732914202383807198.post-46772769261809593992012-07-10T19:26:36.691-06:002012-07-10T19:26:36.691-06:00I can empathize with you about finishing/not finis...I can empathize with you about finishing/not finishing the college degree. I just finished my UG in May at NIU and even though, it was what I wanted and I am now moving onto a PhD program, the act of completing the degree and the transition the necessarily followed has thrown me onto an unstable emotional plane. One part of me feels that perhaps I expected too much from that degree. I thought - inexplicably - that it would change my life. And indeed, the education itself has, but I expected that having the degree in my hands would change things too. It hasn't. And the disappointment is made worse by the fact that I can't explain why I thought it logically WOULD. It is after, only a piece of paper. The real transformation was internal. <br /><br />About the last "senior" year, you might be experiencing senioritis. Everyone makes fun of this "fake syndrome" but it's real. I thought I was motivated enough to overcome it, but my last year was brutal. If it's any consolation, when I thought that I couldn't keep going on to finish, I just thought about how long and hard I'd worked to even get to my senior year. (I started community college in 2004 and I graduated with my UG in 2012). When I thought about those years I spent working towards my degree, I just couldn't throw it away by giving up. If nothing else, I wanted to say "I finished this. I can. I am. And if something comes up in my future, I have the precedence to say: I will. And really mean it". <br /><br />In my senior year, to help me stay focused, I actually began to do extra-curricular academic work that reminded me of the thrill of academia. I wrote a paper for a student conference, and I presented it. I did research for one of my professors. I also started doing OTHER things I liked to remind me how to enjoy life. I started writing a novel that I'd been wanting to for awhile. And I bought lottery tickets. I needed to be reminded of HOPE and the fact that I DO have a future. AND that I am the one - the only one - who can shape it. <br /><br />:)onwards1981https://www.blogger.com/profile/08819873768537053917noreply@blogger.com