#GladGrads #graduations #LifeAfterGraduation #graduation #CollegeGraduation
It’s the time of year to celebrate graduations.
The grads will come in all ages, ambitions and desires.
For example, Teresa Eckart was a prosecutor and judge, who wasn’t doing what she loved. So, she went back to Kennesaw State University in Georgia to become a ballet teacher at age 59.
Hers and the profiles of other graduates were part of a package of articles in the May 5, 2019, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Another profiled grad is Marc Anthony Branch, 27, who leaves the day after his graduation from Emory University in Atlanta for Cambodia, where he will do urban development programming and assessments work with Habitat for Humanity.
Antoinette Charles, 20, will take her passion for helping the homeless with her when she graduates from Georgia State University, where she participated in the student organization Pads for Princesses, which assisted the homeless.
Meanwhile, Haley Evans, 21, learned to push herself at Oglethorpe University outside of Atlanta, and wound up studying abroad in Ecuador. She was able to use social media to successfully win a leadership spot on the student government organization at Oglethorpe while in Ecuador. She plans to teach in early childhood education.
Trayvon Truss, 22, was a self-described social outcast who battled depression. He was homeless much of his childhood. He also had dyslexia and was bullied. Now, he’ll earn his degree in psychology from Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Regardless of the path one takes, graduating college is a big step. Many will come out of college with degrees that won’t always yield the kind of results in the job market that they want. That’s OK for some, but for others, particularly if they are graduating with a lot of debt, that situation will present difficulties.
If that describes you, or if your passion doesn’t yield profitability, don’t fret. You can still pursue your passion, pay down your debt comfortably and live a very good life by devoting a few, part-time hours a week to one of the many vehicles out there that can create a potentially lucrative income for you. To learn about one of the best such vehicles, message me.
It’s a relief, which you may or may not yet feel, to be done with school. Think of it as a step toward what comes next in your life.
You may not yet know what that will be. Or, you may have something in mind that may or may not pan out for you.
The grads featured in the profiles all made decisions, pushed themselves and fulfilled at least some of their dreams.
Some grads tend to focus on the practical, rather than their dreams. It’s certainly OK to want to make a good living, and not have to live at home with mom and dad forever. It’s good to want a house, marriage, children etc. in your future.
Yes, some practical thinking is in order. But always have your eyes, and your mind, on something bigger.
You can get there sooner, or you can get there later. It all depends on whether you are willing to look at something you may not have considered doing before, and whether you have the ambition to do whatever it takes to get what you want.
Be glad, grads, that you’ve taken that step. Be wary of what’s out there, but also open to new things. Skepticism can be good. Cynicism never is.
Peter
Tag Archives: Emory University
STOP, BREATHE: PART 2
#stop #breathe #CalmDown #suicides
Suicide in the United States was up 63 percent among middle-aged women, and 43 percent among middle-aged men.
So says an article by Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times. It was published in the April 23, 2016, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Suicides are at their highest level in 30 years, Tavernise writes. It ‘s not just among middle-aged people. It’s up to 13 per 100,000 people, the highest rate since 1986, Tavernise writes.
“The findings in this report,” by the National Center for Health Statistics, are extremely concerning,” Tavernise quotes Nadine Kaslow, an Emory University researcher and past president of the American Psycological Association.
American Indians had the sharpest rise of all racial and ethnic groups, with rates rising 89 percent for women and 38 percent for men. White middle-aged women had an increase of 80 percent. The rate decline for black men, and declined in one age group: men and women older than 75, Tavernise quotes from the report.
Researchers who reviewed the analysis said the figures were consistent with recent research and painted a picture of desperation for many in American society.
Why do so many, who live in the greatest country in the world, want to kill themselves?
Certainly, the economy in recent years has not been kind to many, particularly those with less education. Jobs are going away, and not returning. Some who had decent-paying jobs have had to take lesser-paying jobs because they were downsized, reorganized etc.
One can lament the situation many face, but to resort to taking one’s own life is a drastic measure.
If you feel so much pressure that you just want it gone, take a breath.
Look around you to see what’s good in your life. Do you have a good family? Do you have lots of friends? Remember, the rising sun each morning is a blessing, and not just another day.
So, once you’ve recognized what’s good in your life, look for something that will help eliminate what’s not so good in your life.
If your job, or lack of job, is not giving you the financial security you want and need, there are many vehicles out there to combat that. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
Yes, you may have to step outside your comfort zone, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised the number of people out there – perhaps whom you don’t know yet – who are or would be willing to help you.
Stepping from one’s comfort zone is not always easy, but it has to be easier than premature death.
We can blame lots of things for the positions many people find themselves in. But casting blame requires energy needed to help one get his life back. If one expends his energy thinking good thoughts, realizing that there is much good around him and that he should be grateful for that, it would be a good start.
It’s difficult enough, when you have an illness or injury that is going to take your life, to deal with death. Perfectly healthy folks certainly don’t need to resort to death to relieve their problems or stress.
Take in all the good things out there and live.
Peter