Life After College

Six months ago If you would have told me that August wouldn't see me in my own classroom, I wouldn't have believed you. As all of my friends are sending their children back to school and my classmates are preparing for their first year in their own classroom, I am reminded that plans have a way of not going exactly how you want them to go sometimes.

May 7, 2016, I graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in English education. Although I've known for a while now that teaching in the classroom would just be a stepping stone to my dream career, I still had a plan. My plan was to be employed by August in a full-time teaching position, so that my husband could let go of his second job, and we could finally start saving for a house. I went on several interviews with principals who liked me, and the interviews couldn't have gone better. However, one after another, the interviews and the deadlines passed with no word from any of the jobs that I thought I had landed. So, I quickly realized that I would not be teaching this year, and it was time to start looking for employment elsewhere, any kind of employment.

So, this is where I am now. I am a college graduate, and my newest adventure has begun as a Starbucks barista. It wasn't the job I planned for, but it was the job I was given, and I greatly appreciative for it. Since the original plan didn't work out, we now have a new plan. Right now, I am studying for the GRE (graduate school entrance exam). Hopefully everything will work out, and I will be starting graduate school in January pursuing a master's degree in my dream field, instructional design and technology. I already have an internship and a possible job in the field, when the time comes.

I am telling you this because while it is great to always have a plan, we have to be ready to let go of those plans when they are not what God has planned. We are not always going to get our way in life. We can plan and prepare for something and try to account for every possible outcome, but there are always going to be situations that don't go according to our plans. We never know what God might be protecting us from or saving us for. Had it not been for my education degree and my experience in the classroom, I would have never been introduced to instructional design, which is my true passion. So, I will continue to work hard in whatever I do, and keep learning how to roll with punches when life decides to throw me a mean right hook.

XOXO Kayla