25- College is for exploration

Maybe what you thought you wanted to be as a grownup no longer appeals. You might’ve thought about being a rocket scientist but were stymied by the sheer amount of math and papers you would have to write.

That might not have been your first choice. It certainly would not have been mind. All that math, the papers I am okay with. But math…urg.

University and college and junior college or even online classes are a chance to explore the you that could be. I am not forgetting trade schools but I feel there is less self-explanatory space there.

Of course, when I first started my college journey it was the early 1990s (shut up, I’m old and the age my mom was when she dropped me off at the plane for my trip to Nebraska) and there were no such things. Your choices were college, university, trade school or junior college. That’s it.

We did all of our paper research in the LIBRARY and copied articles that we wanted to cite. I mean, Google as a search engine wasn’t established until 1998. Yes, I started my school journey pre-internet. Good times.

Instead, you explored due to class selection. If you wanted to learn how to macrame, there was a class for that. If you wanted to learn how to bake masterpieces, there was class for that. If you wanted to write the great American novel, there was a class for that. As in high school, if you needed an easy A, there were classes for that. Students were expected to take at least one-5 electives for their degree.

It was during these elective classes that you got to explore. I took Fencing. Not the yard creation, the exercise. We learned the strict footwork and the styles of fencing and spent some time in the sweaty masks that were used for years. We used the same fencing jackets that had been in use for years, unless we bought our own. We used the electrified lamé, which would indicate that the the electrical circuit had been created when it was touched by metal, such as an epeé. Which was the usual fencing sword.

It was awesome. It remains one of my favorite classes. Ever.

But it wasn’t something to build a career out of as I wasn’t the best in the class. Just one of the more annoying at beating the boys. Nursing was going to be that.

But chemistry for nurses followed by organic chemistry. I was the group tutor for both. That was where I almost chucked it all in and changed my major the chemistry and became a pharmacist. Because the chemical equations and the work in the chemistry lab with the smells and the acids and the Bunsen burner made sense.

But for the fact that my scholarship from the Air Force was for nursing, I might’ve had a very different career.

And the math.

The point is that I got to explore these things. Fun things, different things.

Could I still pick up an epeé and salute an opponent? Yep.

Does it come up often in daily life? Not often enough; the nearest salle is at least an hour away.

Sigh.

School Me Satuday 1/18/25- Under pressure

This is from a note I made last September. I wrote to myself that Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen just hits different as a student. To quote Darth Vader “Search your feelings and know it to be true”.

Starts with a riff we all know in our bones. At least those of us of a certain age.

Dotdotdot didi da

This, like life as an adult student, was a group project.

Dotdotdot didi da

I hate group projects. I find they have no redeeming quality. Except for this song. This song is the quality we should hold ourselves to. After we teach the other generations about the song.

Dotdotdot didi da

Pressure pushin’ down on me. This can be pressure from teachers, the syllabus, the exam dates, and even ourselves. I have heard that college is like a pressure cooker. There are demands on us from all sides and we just have to tread water.

“Terror of knowing what this world is about, watching some good friends scream let me out!”

As an adult learner, one of the first lessons is that not everyone makes it. This goes for classmates who have to drop out for one reason or another. Or teachers who quit in the middle of the semester. However, we have to soldier on if we want to hit our goals/targets/graduate.

“Chippin around, kick my brains round the floor. These are the days it never rains but it pours.”

This is another absolutely true sentence. Most college students have more than 1 class and they have to juggle their notes, and their reading time, and the tests and papers. There will be nothing but reading/lectures for weeks and then BOOM tests/papers in three classes all due in the same week. This teaches the adult student about time management and pressure management.

“Can’t we give ourselves one more chance?”

The feeling of “I wanna quit” is known to all students. Being an adult learner is hard. But we can absolutely do it. One lecture, one set of readings, one test, one paper at a time.

“Caring about ourselves is the last dance.”

Look at them, singing about self-care before it was cool. Know that being an adult learner is hard. No one is making us do this, unlike high school. Keeping our eyes on the proverbial pie helps immensely. Remember, school can’t last forever.

Dotdotdot didi da

School Me Saturday 2/17/24-the more we learn, the less we know

The more we learn, the less we know.

This is a stark statement and it can also feel a bit disheartening.

What do you mean I have more to learn? When can I be done?

We can break down the phrase. The more we learn. Yes, there is always something to learn. It is impossible to know everything about everything. Learning is a privilege, some people do not have that luxury. We’re not going to unpack that; that’s a Tuesday top-of-mind topic.

If you have the opportunity to learn, absolutely do it! No matter how you learn, what you learn. It is always important to stretch those brain muscles.

The second part of the saying is no less important than the first part. The less we know, to me this means there is an opportunity to examine what we know and what there is still to learn in whatever realm you want to learn.

If you are a current adult learner you are already engaging with learning more. The key is always to be learning more and expanding your knowledge. You have to be content with the learning because it is not about learning all the things. Because that is impossible because no one has the time to learn all the things, not in a human’s life span. Even AI doesn’t know everything. Because there is always knowledge being generated in every minute, in every day.

Albert Einstein said that the brain is a muscle. In growing older the idiom if you don’t use it, you lose it really becomes clear. Your brain, your muscles, the foreign language you took in high school. All of it has to be augmented; there is always something to learn.

That fact that there is always something to learn is the takeaway from today. As is the idea of additional education in whatever realm that you want to learn.

Learning will never be done.

There is always something new. Being willing to learn is half the battle.

School Me Saturday 12/30/23-looking ahead by looking behind

This is the last School Me Saturday post for 2023. And it will be a 2023 personal report post.

There is something about the end of the year that promotes introspection, of looking inside yourself to count your accomplishments. Do not count the failures. These are just learning opportunities.

This past year I survived TWO PhD semesters! In a six-semester program that is 2/3 of the way through. I almost called my chair a liar when she told me that I only had 4 classes to go, the rest of the time will be project and dissertation. Mind-blowing.

I learned about so much as well. Nursing Theory, more statistics, types of research. This past semester had a bit of a different feel with 2 of the three classes being mandatory classes in Policies and Ethics, and Health Disparities. I dare say I learned a lot in the two.

I continued to function as a research assistant and was assigned to a PhD nurse who was just starting a project. I got to design and create the survey that she will be using. I got to learn more programs, including Canva and Qualtrics which is the survey program. I love to learn stuff. This next semester will have more things to learn in data cleaning, and using my nascent skills in statistical modeling. But that is next year me’s problem. This post is about 2023 and all that I have learned.

The Tuesday night Writing Group has kept me in good stead to stay on target. This is a group I joined at the very beginning of this endeavor, and I use the three hours weekly to focus my attention and my thoughts. I know I am the only 2nd year who engages with the writing groups but they are very instrumental to my process.

I worked as a graduate assistant over the summer for a group of RN to BSN nurses who were in their last classes. We explored writing and citation, and I spent a lot of time reassuring them. Anyone who knows me in real life knows I am not that person, but I allowed myself to be that person for them. Well, I say I am not that person, but I am relentlessly cheerful and see the bright side. Not for nothing was my MedSurg nickname of Pollyanna Puke.

I survived the busy season in the operating room. To recap, many people have met their deductible and therefore MUST HAVE SURGERY NOW!!! This makes the end of the year, and the beginning of the year very busy in the OR. I still haven’t learned how to say no, and I’ve been doing a bit of evening shift charge during the week.

2023 was a busy year; I’m still on the bridge toward graduation.

Mantras always help. My favorite is “The only way out is through.”

Next week on School Me Saturday I will explore looking forward for adult learners.