After a moderately successful first term in the College of IT at Western Governors University, I hit a wall. HARD.

Term 2 was a disaster. It got to the point where just thinking about schoolwork made me anxious and upset. Then it happened. I FAILED.
I failed my first attempt at the CompTIA A+ certification. That was the nail in the coffin. I truly wanted to quit school and not give it a second thought.

But it seems thoughts are my specialty and I decided that I really needed to sit down and think about why I was struggling so hard. It seems so simple looking back now, but I entered this program without thinking of what drives ME, what fuels MY passion, what sparks joy for ME. It wasn’t that I didn’t want my degree. It wasn’t that I wasn’t smart enough to complete a degree in IT. My HEART wasn’t in it. AT.ALL. So it was time to start asking some hard questions. What is it that brings me the most satisfaction? Helping others. And how do I help others in my daily life? Aside from helping students go back to school (which I love most days) Operation Valor. YES, Operation Valor brings me joy. Knowing that we are honoring the memories of our nation’s heroes, working with world class organizations that share the same vision, to honor, support, and empower our veterans, THAT is something that brings me a great deal of personal satisfaction. So, I thought about what I could do to improve my ability to share and promote an organization that means the world to me.

Decision made. That was the easy part. I had to appeal the decision by my school to withdraw me due to no academic progress. I had to go through the process of changing programs which included a two month term break. *turns out that break was very much needed for my mental well being* and now I am in my 1st term in the Bachelor’s of Science Business Administration – Marketing program at WGU.

My term started April 1st, I didn’t get access to my courses until April 2nd. Since that time I have completed 5 courses and am very close to completing my 6th with 2 more lined up waiting to start.

I don’t anticipate that I will continue at this pace, but it’s a very good feeling now that I am in a program that will help me develop the skills I need to maximize the impact that Operation Valor can have. As of today there are 22 weeks left in my term and I am determined graduate well before this anticipated graduation date!

Don’t be afraid to start over. Don’t be afraid to let go of something that is causing you pain or anguish simply because you’ve invested time in it. Don’t be afraid to fail. DO all of these things. Start over, let go, fail, then keep going.

I would love to hear about things you’ve let go of in your pursuit of happiness. How did you decide it was time? What did you do to make that change?