Well, not to get all egocentric, but it's about me - my life, what I'm doing and what I think. Some people are interested in that sort of thing. Others, not so much and they don't have to follow.
Where did this start? So long ago that I'd almost forgotten. When I was in high school, I had a couple of "dreams" or dream careers. The first was to be an anthropologist or archaeologist (I am a child of the Indiana Jones era!). Even now, I would still be perfectly happy living in a tent on a dig out in a desert or rain forest some where searching for that next discovery and publishing articles in National Geographic. I was really good anthropology, forensic anthropology in particular. But my folks didn't really see much of a future in that.
My second was to be an athletic trainer. I took ROP classes back in high school for it, was the student trainer, volunteered at the SPORT Clinic before and after school, and took classes at the local community college for it. I was even accepted into ASU's sports medicine program. But financially, it wasn't realistic for me to go, especially with out of state tuition.
I did what most of us who can't afford to go to college d0 - I started working, bought a house, then a car (it took me a long while to buy a car where I had payments to make on it) and money became the primary motivator for my employment. I've always had a life outside of work, and my jobs have never defined me as a person - they were simply a way to pay the bills and entertainment. I worked my way "up the ladder" and found myself making pretty damn good money for a person without a college degree. In fact, there were many people who were surprised that I didn't have a degree. To that I say, degrees don't make you intelligent; I know plenty of stupid people, or those who have no common sense or people skills yet they have a degree - people seemed surprised that I could be so smart without a degree. Personally, I feel too much emphasis is placed on degrees when it comes to job placement. There is something to be said for trade and technical schools where certain learned skills are necessary; but in regular, everyday jobs, intelligence coupled with some training classes on very specific skills should be enough when most of what you'll need and use is learned on the job - doesn't experience, motivation and intelligence count for anything????
So, when I found myself in a job where I couldn't be promoted without a degree, I decided to do something about it. I tried to switch jobs, but all the jobs within my pay range wanted degrees, too. These are Administrative and Executive Assistant positions, people! Degrees aren't needed - common sense and experience is! Realizing that I was going to have to go back to school if I wanted a new job, I registered. But I hate government, and I want nothing to do with public administration or management. Sure, I could have gone back for a political science or PA degree, had my employer pay for part of that education, and advanced further up the chain to make more money - working 60+ hours a week in a job where you aren't appreciated but expected to care, and you don't get raises based on your performance but based on whether or not the 9 elected officials who "govern" the city think staff in general deserve them. No, if I was going to spend my money on school, it was going to be for something that I WANT to do; something that I'll enjoy doing; something where I'll wake up in the morning excited to go to work rather than dreading what political bullshit may happen.
Which leads me back to the two things I wanted to do 18 years ago.....realizing I would need a PhD to go anywhere in anthropology/archaeology, I chose the athletic training route. There are many reasons for this, but first and foremost, I know a lot about the subject. Being a life long athlete, I know all about injuries - I've certainly had enough of them to know what they feel like, how to maximize healing and how to completely screw yourself up even more than before. I know all about overuse, and not resting enough to allow for proper healing. I know about rehab, and how important exercise therapy is from years of NOT doing it properly if at all. It's also a shorter program, and in two years, I'll have my degree and 4 certificates that will allow me to jump right in to some sort of job in the field, or go forward to Metro State for another 2 years to expand that degree further.
I love sports. I've played softball for 28 years and still play to this day. I love bicycles and work at a bike shop actually riding bikes (I'm a group ride leader). I'm on a triathlon team, though work and school currently eat up most of my time so I haven't been able to train or race this season (I hope to be back on track next season especially since I have swimming as a required class for school!).
I don't have to work with sick people. While my degree will offer a number of options such as personal training, Silver Sneakers, exercise rehab therapy for cancer or cardiac patients, I can focus on the personal/athletic training aspect of it and do that sort of rehab. Personally, I would rather work with athletes who have the drive and motivation to get better, and who aren't (typically) going to die on me any time soon.
Here in the Denver Metro area, we are fortunate enough to have 6 professional sports teams, and numerous college teams right at my finger tips. A few miles south in Colorado Springs is the Olympic Training Center. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate in the country, and the general public are much more motivated in taking their personal health seriously, and pay for things like personal trainers, triathlon coaches, etc. The opportunities here are endless!
So, that is what this is all about. It's hard juggling school with work and a personal life. It was scary quitting a very well paying job to work part time and pay tuition. But it's so worth it. I'm much more relaxed than I was, and certainly happier. I still have stresses like how I'm going to make tuition, or learning all the functions of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, but it all works out. I'm a much more dedicated student than I was back out of high school. I put a lot more effort into my studies and try learn as much as my brain will possibly hold. And it's all worth it.
I hope you find this blog interesting, entertaining, enlightening and even motivating. Too often we think we can't leave a job or make a change in life because we're too afraid of what may happen. The security seems to be worth the misery. But life is short, and all the pain that your daily job causes you isn't worth it. There's always something else out there - you just have to find it. It may not look like what you expect it to, but it's there. Just open your eyes, your heart and your mind and be willing to accept what is presented.
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