I am in a good position this week.
I am fresh from a long "vacation" with people who are more family to me than my parents are or will ever be willing to be. Speaking of which, it is more of an "emotional security high", where I was loved and cherished. I feel like I can climb mountains and accomplish my dreams.
In this feel-good-rush of things, I am making big plans and deciding on some things in life.
I need to work on my math. I hated it while in school and while I did reasonably well, I never wanted to go beyond and excel. My goal for the rest of this year is to go back through all the math books Mrs. G has and tutor myself. I want to take my SAT's at least by spring of 2012.
I know that SAT's aren't that important anymore; and for someone who is older going straight into college would save time. However, with SAT scores I will have more of a basis for intelligence than a GED. The review and stuff will also help with any college entrance exam if I am ready to take classes
I want you readers to keep me accountable and keep me up on this one.
I really, really detest numbers and I know I am going to have to work really hard at keeping up this level of energy, optimism, and purpose.
At work, M. keeps pushing me to do research into other jobs that she thinks I would be good at. She tells me repeatedly that I am young and now is the time to move up the ladder, not get stuck in a minimum wage job and turn out like her. Other people are also telling me this. One customer who is really nice told me a story about how he got work at a car factory; assembly line work. He told me how the older men there encouraged him to get out into the world and not settle. They told him that if he didnt he would end up like them; working there all their lives. When they finally got to retire, they didnt have much life left to enjoy.
He told me how he used his money to travel and see the world. He now runs his own fitness center.
I have so much fear and I know I can get discouraged to the point that I refuse all manner of help and goal setting. Today I wrote out in big letters "I CAN DO THIS!!!" on top of a paper. I then listed out my goals for the rest of 2011 and a couple things each for spring, summer, and fall of 2012.
But first things first.
Today I am going to go out and spend a couple bucks on a big notebook.
Algebra; here I come.
4 comments:
odd how you post this today when i was just talking with someone about what we could do or would like to spend time on if we didn't have to earn money and could go anywhere in the world. i realized that i was really too afraid of taking a chance to do the other options that i thought of. i'm sticking to a safe path for now with the ATC school.
~your sister (not signing in on a friend's computer)
How I wish I was years younger and could do some of this stuff from way back then!! Go for it, girl!! I'm proud of you and will be praying for strength, stamina, courage, stick-to-it-ive-ness, etc! Don't live with regrets, no matter how hard it may be/get in the moment!
~ dana c (in MN)
Go for it!! I've been trying to make 'big plans' for my life lately too, and while sometimes it gets discouraging not to see progress, dogged persistence is so important.
I don't know how you study and such, but I've found that I work better when I give myself a time limit (i.e. two and a half hours of math daily) instead of a accomplishment goal (as in, two lessons a day). I get a lot more done, and it's easier to persist when I know there's a set time that I can be done.
One other suggestion, find at least one good friend who will regularly ask you how you're doing... if you choose someone that you really want to make proud/happy, then that will be added motivation to keep going. And the praise when you get something done feels oh so good... hehe :)
I was in your shoes once! Hated math but realized I'd need it pretty soon if I wanted to study stuff that interested me. So I finished my high school math requirement by correspondence.
Finding motivation was hard sometimes. But one thing that helped was doing a math course that I was able to understand; the curriculum was organized and made sense, which helped a lot.
Also, doing math in a different environment helped too. In high school my math teacher was unkind and had favorite students. But doing my course by correspondence later, I felt more competent without my old teacher's bad attitude getting in the way.
When I finished the course, I still didn't like math but I at least felt like I had mastered the basics. With fear and trembling I even went on to study statistics and get a firm grasp on those too.
So from one math un-enthusiast to another: You can do it. Especially given that you're in a supportive environment and that it's one step to reaching a tangible goal.
So if you want, I'll gladly ask how it's going from time to time. :)
Post a Comment