Happiness

Hello there!
Pretend for a minute you have a big house, a nice car, a good source of income, the latest trends, a fitness instructor, good medical insurance... But you are not happy. Shouldn't you be?

What is happiness?
I find that the more I live on this earth, the more I find out happiness is extremely elusive. When I was little, I heard someone say happiness comes in drops and the Creator gives you a dropper to last you your whole life.

At that moment, I did not understand what I was being told. "Dropper?" I thought... What in the h...?
Now that I am older and have seen and experienced a little in this world, I am beginning to understand it.


My goal in my 20s was to make sure I could provide for my son the way I was not provided for. This meant having 2 jobs, going to school and not seeing him a whole lot. Now that I have resigned my Full-Time position, I feel free. Granted, I still need the full-time income but I can mix and match different skills and different projects to make sure I can continue providing the basic necessities.

I have realized the Disney trip we take every year is not worth me working all year long and not spending time with my child. I have realized that they don't really care about the material things if they cannot spend time with you. I vowed to never be the parent that was never around and I feel as if I have failed, until now.

My happiness is:

• My son's smile. Is the "aha!" moment when I help him with his homework and he understands it
• When he asks me to come work at his school because I explain things better than his teacher
• When he brings his classmates over for me to go over the homework with them
• When he brags to his friends about my cooking
• When he knows I will be there for his Karate competitions
• When I meet with his music teacher
• When I go for a walk with him
• When I was trying to teach him how to ride a bicycle

I was missing out on all those things with my son, if not even more. I thought I was working towards happiness but I was actually working against it.

My son is about to be 10 years old: I still have some time. Think for a minute: what is happiness to you? Is happiness taking you away from your family and children?
I'd much rather spend evenings cuddling up to my son watching a movie of his choice than to be working until 1:00 am on school nights just to make sure that Disney trip happens next year.
Think, reflect, analyze, reinvent your schedule. And may you always be happy!


Thank you for reading and buenas tardes,

Wen

I Made it to the Finish Line!!!

Hello everyone,

For those of you who have been following my student struggle, I am proud to say I DID IT!!! I finished school... Not only that but I also landed a job before I even got my diploma on my hands.

All that hard work has really paid off and I will be teaching this August.

To everyone who has a dream I tell you: pursue it. It is worth it... You do not have anything to prove to anyone but rather yourself.

Walking on that stage and getting my little diploma holder was something I did not believe I could achieve and the moment was finally there...


Now, if I could inspire all of my students to pursue a higher education, I will really feel accomplished.

Thank you for reading and buenas noches.

Closer to the Finish Line...

Hello everyone!

If you read my previous blog on student stress, you already know I am on my last stretch to graduation. It has been an uphill struggle since I am a single mom and I have two jobs. I am also a Notary Public and translate documents on the side... It seems like there are not enough hours in the day, especially to spend with my son.

With that being said, I can tell you that things are getting harder every day. The pressure I have on my shoulders is huge and not having a partner who is physically with me does not make things any easier. If you find yourself in this situation, I can tell you to not look at how much you have left but how far you have come... That works for me most days.
In addition, someone said something to me that I still remember every day: "Keep your chin up and your heart soft".

Thank you for reading and buenas noches.

Here We Go Again...

Hello everyone!

As some of you may have figured out by now, I am currently enrolled at a State University that is making my life miserable and my gastritis more welcome in my stomach.

I would love to blame them for my codependency, possible cholesteatoma, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and weight gain, but the truth is I can't. You see, sometime during my Psychology class this semester I learned that environmental factors cam influence you but not determine your reactions... I guess me having anxiety is my very own problem and no one else's.

Let's review that for a minute: I have been attending the very same State University for a little over a year. I am obviously fluent in Spanish, both the written and spoken aspects of it and so I took the CLEP Test in order to not have to waste time and money taking classes I did not actually need. I also took some Spanish classes at a technical institute in the same town my university is, and would like to transfer them over so I can get credit for them.

My awesome adviser has submitted the paperwork to get approved about twice and it is yet to post on my records. According to what we can see online, my beloved State University wants me to take the courses all over again... Thinking I had a chance to make things right, I went to see my adviser, got him to sign the transfer request form for me, and later on I went to take it to the Interim Chair for the World Languages and Cultures Dept.For the 3rd time.

To make a long story short, I turned in my paperwork 2 weeks ago and today I find out the Chair's secretary claims I never did turn in the forms and she would contact my adviser to get a new set of forms. I gues sit's a good thing that I'm not graduating in may, otherwise I'll be "out of luck", since I'm looking to get credit for 6 classes.

I have been there ONE YEAR already: my classes are not new and neither are my CLEP Scores... WHAT is the issue?

If we had a university that was closer, I would SO go there. The one I'm in right now lacks customer service and the grand majority of the staff members just really does not care one bit.

I shall speak to my adviser on Wed. to try to get this sorted out and when I do, the Dept. Chair is going to have to listen to me. How can they be so quick in charging their fees but not quick to process paperwork? Gee, the paperwork is standard and from the same town! I would hate to think about what people coming from other countries have to go through,especially with translated transcripts.

Bottom line is: HOW can you be so mediocre and still hold a job? That is truly beyond me.

Thanks for reading & buenas noches,

Wen