It's an interesting irony...at least I think it is.
When my daughter was born in 2008, I decided that I wanted to finish getting my BS degree in business. This was because I remembered a conversation...in fact many such conversations (arguments actually)...with my mom decades ago about why I didn't want to go to college.
And the argument went something like this:
Mom: "You should go to college. It would be a great experience for you."
Teenage Me: "Why? You didn't go to college. You didn't even finish high school."
And that was the end of that.
So, there I was in the summer of 2008, holding a brand new baby, and thinking to myself... I really don't want to have this same argument with my daughter when she gets older.
Within 6 months, I was back in college, finished by BS degree a year or so later, and then went on to complete an MFA degree in writing.
It was after I graduated with my second degree that it fully sunk in. What a bunch of bullsh*t it is to have a college degree.
Even worse -- at least for me -- was that I felt my dream of becoming a commercial fiction author was squashed. (At least that's what I believed at that time when I left the university.) All the professors there seemed to beat out any dream that any moldable mind had about ever becoming successful in the realm of writing, mainly in commercial fiction. Instead of being the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed wannabe writer with dreams of grandeur and success... I felt deflated, rejected, and ground down with my dream whipped out of me. As I look back now, I realize that most were burn-outs, dreamers, and not all that commercially successful themselves. Perhaps in their own twisted jealous way they thought that if they got rid of a new writer through ridicule and criticism, they'd have a chance as the hacks and has-beens that they all were.
It seems that my plan of NOT having that argument with my daughter when she got to the age of going off to college has really morphed into something quite different.
Do you want to know what I tell my daughter about college now?
1) Go to a community college for your first couple of years (IF you want to go to college at all). It's a lot cheaper to get your general education stuff completed (like math, science, language, English, etc.) at a junior college without paying an arm and a leg for the same crap you learn in high school.
2) By doing it this way, it'll give you extra time to figure out what you want to do so there's no pressure to figure out your 20+ year career at the age of 17.
3) If college doesn't float your boat, consider a trade school.
4) Maybe college of trade school won't be for you at all, in which case...take that six-figure college trust fund I have for you and go buy some real estate with it. Just don't blow the money on stupid sh*t.
Total 180-degree change from what I thought was how I felt about higher education only a short time ago.
Most of you know that my daughter started the 9th grade this year. Yes, she's in high school. I still can't believe it.
Last night we had "open house." We were walking all around the school which reminded me of a small college campus. She was showing me her classes. I met her teachers. I could feel her excitement about her new school, an excitement that had been completely non-existent in all of her schooling years prior to this (especially with online learning during the pandemic). (I kept telling her that high school would be different and secretly praying that it actually would be for her!)
As I looked around her new school and looked at her, I couldn't believe how fast she grew up. It seems like just yesterday when I was dropping her off to preschool for the first time at a local Montessori. Now she's a high school student. What the hell?
As I drive to and from school to pick her up, I see parents my age. Some of them, I can tell, are remembering their years in high school. Some might have regrets. Others might just be reminiscing about those days. But all of us thinking, Where did the time go?
My daughter has a blank slate. Her whole life is ahead of her. And she can be and do anything she wants.
But this made me realize one critical thing here. We ALL have our whole lives ahead of us. And at ANY time we can choose to be and do SOMETHING ELSE. On a dime. Instantly!
Don't you agree? I think we get "stuck" in life sometimes and we fail to realize that we can PIVOT into something different AT ANY TIME.
And that brings me to what I want to tell you.
I'm giving you an opportunity to pivot into something that will likely change everything for you.
Besides...
The kiddies are going back to school. Maybe it's time you did too.
CLICK HERE to find out what I have in mind for you. It's pretty mind-blowing. Something I've NEVER done before and something I'll NEVER do again!
See you at the top!
Your mentor,
Monica Main
