Reflective Essay
College is both a time of learning and a time of discovery. A college student discovers a lot about themselves over the course of their studies. For me, being in college for the second time, I found that I still had a lot to discover about myself. My time at SIUE helped me to rediscover the self-confidence that had been taken from me over the previous years.
The year prior to enrolling at SIUE could easily be considered the worst time in my life. I had just been fired from a job that I loved and had to scramble to find gainful employment in a terrible job market. Without many marketable skills, I was very limited in my options. I ended up working in a merchandiser position with a well-known beverage manufacturer. However, this job would turn out to be the worst I had ever had. Over the course of the next year, the physical nature of the job, along with the unorthodox hours, took its toll on me. In addition, the realization of losing my previous job began to produce symptoms of depression. I suffered several emotional breakdowns, and the repetitive motions of the job caused painful tendonitis in my wrist. I tried looking for another job, but my efforts had no success. As terrible as this time was for me, though, it was a necessary pain. That year helped me to come to the realization that, without going back to school, I was never going to get anything better than where I was. As soon as that fact became clear to me, I began taking steps to enroll at SIUE.
When I enrolled at SIUE, I had the ambitious goal to graduate in two years so that my wife and I would graduate at the same time. With my previous coursework at Ohio State, this plan was feasible, but I would still need everything to fall just right in order to accomplish it. After getting a 4.0 in my first semester, I modified that goal slightly. Now, I not only wanted to graduate in two years, but to also do so with a 4.0 grade point average. I have always been a good student, but I knew that this would require a level of discipline that I did not possess when I when to college the first time. As the semesters rolled by and the grades came in, classes fell into place, and my goal kept moving closer. Now, I stand at the threshold of graduation, having succeeded in meeting both of my goals.
My time at SIUE has been beneficial to me by helping to prove to myself that I possess the strength, discipline, and will to succeed. Now, armed with the skills I have learned, I prepare to move from the instructional phase of my life to the professional phase, and I know that I have the abilities to overcome any obstacle that stands in my way.