I go through this cycle every couple of years.
I start the cycle by loving where I’m at in my career. I’m enjoying where I’m at in life, everything is going well, and there is not a care in the world.
At this point, I’m minding my own business, and someone starts talking about academia. I think back to my time in college and graduate school. I think how much I learned and how great it was to learn about subjects I’m interested in and the wheels of my mind start spinning out of control.
Next in my cycle is I start thinking about what kind of degree I would go after, if I were to decide to go get one. I think about a history masters degree, but I don’t do languages well, so that is out. I look at religion degrees, but the universities in my area don’t have religion programs I would be interested in being a part of. I settle on education degrees and narrow them down into some I would be interested in and others I would not.
Finally, I start researching programs in my area and the cost of attending, details, etc. I then present my findings to my family who agree this would be a great idea, but the timing isn’t quite right. I’ve always known this in my head, but hearing them vocalize this snaps me back to reality…oops, there goes gravity… (bad Eight Mile reference there).
Added to these realities right now is the fact that I’m not sure what I want my next step in education to be. Do I want to be an administrator? Do I want to move into educational technology? Do I want to move into counseling? Who knows.