Interacting with the younger students is fun, too. Or sign up for evening classes where more adults usually show up. Using our brain is good for all kinds of reasons.
“Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities.”
Terry Josephson
Well, my grandchildren are all back in school or very soon to be. My children are re-establishing the “school routines.” I have always loved school. I even liked the structure of the school year after I was older and had children of my own. I’m a little weird about that I guess, because I actually loved the learning. If I’m totally honest, however, I did not really love 7th and 8th grade. I was still intrigued by the new books and notebooks and classes, but in those junior high (now called middle school) years I definitely was more into my limitations than into life possibilities. I felt like my nose and my rear were too big and my breasts not big enough. I felt not quite as cool as everyone else seemed to feel.
Some of those same insecurities resurfaced when I was going through my midlife divorce. I went back to college in 1992 and graduated in 1995 … a process I had started in 1964 with graduation from high school. I had never quite graduated from college the first go-around because I had to change schools several times, (following my wasband around as he finished college and went to medical school and internship and the military) and during medical school, we got hungry and thought me going to work was a better plan than finishing my degree. But going back to college and graduating as an adult was an amazingly invigorating experience. That exhilaration about learning came back full force! I learned things I used in my business the next week. I learned things outside of my professional area.
Several RADiCALs have gone back to school and they are challenged, but loving it. One said, “It started as a distraction to get my mind off of divorce, but now I’m loving it and what I’m learning is going to help me in my job.” Another RADiCAL woman in a recent support group has a full-time job, three kids and is finishing up her degree. She’s busy, busy, busy, but she loves it!
So take this opportunity after/during your divorce to enroll in something you find intellectually stimulating. Get that old thrill about the first day of school back into your psyche. Relight that flame. Take a class online. You can find a class about anything. If you absolutely can’t work it out right now, at least get some class schedules and figure out how you can get started next semester. This is the perfect time to fill your mind with possibilities rather than limitations. And by the way no one liked 7th and 8th grade that much!
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13
