Six months after I returned to school, I got an unexpected promotion. Suddenly, I was tasked with juggling a 60-hour work week, 12 credit hours and a marriage. It was clear that one of the balls was going to drop at some point.
So after talking with my advisor, I decided to withdraw from OSU for one term. My goal was to get the rest of my life in order so that I could return to school in the spring and really focus. My biggest concern was losing momentum because I had been working towards a career change for some time.
I worked for a small company that was growing fast. Many employees were expected to work long hours. It goes without saying that the company culture could be tense and borderline toxic at times. I knew coworkers who experienced divorces and breakups. I didn’t want my job to take over my entire life and I didn’t want to lose sight of my goal to return to school and find new opportunities for success. Nevertheless, the promotion came with many benefits.
There was a hard choice to be made. Working was necessary to finance my education, but continuing in my current position was too much of a time commitment. In the end, I was approved to go down to part-time at work. In my mind, it was the only way to ensure that the scope of my workload wouldn’t interfere with my academic responsibilities.
The last year has had its share of challenges, but I don’t regret my decision to prioritize my education. I would advise anyone in a similar position to listen to your intuition and really consider your motivations. I left a reliable career that I didn’t love to continue my education. I didn’t always trust it would work out, but I’m glad I made the sacrifice.
