Slice #9, Back to School

 I'm choosing to explore my identities this month, focusing on a different angle of me each day.    

Today, a slice on being a student (again).

For many years, friends have asked, "Are you going to get your doctorate next?"  My emphatic reply, "No, absolutely not.  Not for me.  No. Never."  Yet, here I am... working on my doctorate.  

All of my degrees have had challenges, but let me tell you, doctoral programs are no joke.  Yesterday's post was meant to be about my student identity, and I didn't realize till I crawled into bed that I'd been so busy 'studenting' that I hadn't even written.

One glimpse of being a student yesterday was meeting up at a coffee house with two friends on this same path.  The hours literally zoomed by with never a quiet moment to fill.  The afternoon was shuffling papers and prepping, and the evening in class was engaging as well.  

A week ago or so, I had a good cry.  It was still winter which lowers my tolerance for life anyway, and I just wanted rest.  It occurred to me that I was doing something hard.  That sounds so simple, but just acknowledging that I am doing hard things let me give myself some grace.  I can do hard things ... especially with the amount of support I am getting.  

What I'm trying to say is that without these people, I would not be surviving.  If you take this adventure, find your cohort.  But, really, in all of life... find your people!