To achieve or not to achieve...

...that isn't the question.


So, for those of you who've been following and patiently awaiting my next post...here it is. For those of you who are NEW and/or didn't get the memo, this is an ongoing blog about a girl, her dead husband, their 5 kids, and the cat Snake. Snake isn't so much the family cat as he is mine; however, that is the subject of another blog.


I say that this isn't really the question because I've already decided. After finishing my second year at the University of Dayton, one of the top ten Catholic universities in the nation, I have found that I'm in a state of complete and utter burnout. I have to explain that this past year was the year of the chemistry. In the Chinese calendar, there is no 'year of the chemistry' because they took it out. I have it in good confidence that it was SO evil, that they not only took it out of the calendar...they are FORBIDDEN to speak of it. I am under no obligation; therefore, I am alive to tell you that I lived through this hell...and that it was NOT pretty.

SO...

...after having almost dropping out of school twice, staying up many nights and not sleeping, and consuming mass amounts of Monster energy drinks then taking Nyquil shots at night in order to get some sleep...I can tell you that though the first semester of the hated chemistry with the evil jerk professor from hell who challenged me and took no prisoners (that we know of) was tougher than I had expected and I came out with a C- (Carbon with a negative charge for those chemistry nerds out there).  Though that wasn't the greatest grade to earn, I didn't feel like I needed to retake the class, so I chalked it up as a win.  That was only the first half of the chemistry series, so I wasn't out of the proverbial woods yet.  I took the second half of the series and after much struggle and a LOT of studying and praying to the chemistry god...offering up everything I could legally get away with...I ended up with an A- out of both the class and the lab.  Dr. Petry and Mike were both gifts from God...no lie. ANYHOW...it was a long ass year that tested my endurance. I came out battered and bruised.

The real question to ask is...What does this have to do with achieving?

Lots, actually. After I was done with the year...son graduated (Yay!), earned his Eagle Scout (Yay!), and off to Israel...I was bummed, alone, emotionally drained, and all the motivation was drained out of me. I still have yet another year and a half left of school and so many friends have moved on to graduate and have great jobs with huge salaries and I'm not done and broke. 

...which is a painful place to be.

So the last few days I've really had to decide what I want and decide to power through this painful period. My mom and dad have always said that we have the wrong last name if we want to have money.  That's BULLSHIT at its finest (yes...I said it...and I'm not sorry). I don't believe that for a minute anymore. I think a small thinker began that myth as an excuse not to get anywhere.  It actually makes me angry. That was the mentality I grew up with. It has taken me so many years and tears in order to finally understand that I am capable of making something of myself. I just can't believe the nerve of someone placing that limitation on their child like that...and trust me...there were so many other limitations; however, that's another blog.

So...

...for you, my loyal fans, I found a wonderful article from Psychology Today--->How Do High Achievers Really Think? which has wonderful insight on achieving and what goes on inside of the brains of high achievers. I believe that it takes practice, patience, and powering through some of our own individual thought processes; however, it is possible to be a high achiever!