You’re either winning or learning!

Good morning!  As I was drafting this email, I got all aflutter reflecting back on the romantic moments and excitement of being in my 20s with a whole future ahead of me.  Late nights talking with my pals about all of the things we’d accomplish.  Drinking cheap wine and beer at dirty pizza places planning out our next moves to conquer the world? Sure, now that I have a steady paycheck and my own house, I can recall the good times.  But that mess was ROUGH!  There were a few years there were I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay my bills from those giant student loans to that cheap wine.  All of the experiences in past emails - the foundations and intentions and experiments – didn’t pay a dime up front! But they make for a good story, right?

The moral of this email is – don’t let your past dictate your future.  I had a ton of fun in my life but I worked really hard to get here and it was not easy.  I didn’t always make the right choices and I wasn’t always moving in the “right” direction. It’s ok to change; it’s ok to level up; it’s ok to grow; it’s ok to say no; it’s ok to pause.   You’re not winning or losing – you’re winning or LEARNING!

An example: When I graduated from Texas State, I had no job.  I was assigned a work study job in grad school to fulfill student loan obligations, but that dried up when I graduated. The restaurant I was waitressing at closed.  So, I relied on past experiences and signed up for a Field School abroad.  This program was with Utica College, led by a board certified forensic anthropologist (like MSU), and spent a month in Albania.  Done.  Off I went – paid for by more students loans.  I learned so much; we studied 1,000yr old human remains, including children; gave presentations to local Greek and Albanians, and toured UNESCO and historical eastern European archaeological sites.  By the end of the month, the director offered me admission to the doctoral program at Utica College!  I was overjoyed… until I learned it was a Physical Therapy program.  I would spend 2-3 years immersed in Human Anatomy and Physiology.  I would leave the program with a PhD.  So I said yes and travelled all the way to upstate New York, leaving my boyfriend and dogs behind.  By the first week, I knew it was not for me. By the second week, I packed up and left.  It was a hard NO too; just as much as I knew forensic science was for me, I knew this was not.  Living people – EW.

It would have been really easy to run home with my tail between my legs but I didn’t. Trying something and finding it is not for you is just as important as saying yes or no.  I’ll never know if I “should have gone to Utica” or taken that offer of a lifetime.  I tell my kids to always take a “no thank you bite” of new foods so they can truly say they don’t like it.  It’s all about learning!

Be safe out there this weekend and see you again soon,

Kat