Grad School....

Compassion=Happiness...

I've taken this little statement from a self-awareness site that I subscribe to... But it makes so much sense for me today. Today it speaks to me more than anything they have posted in a while.

I am working on the beginnings of my applications to graduate programs. Yes, I have chosen to go back to school. With a different mindset this time though. If I accumulate another $80,000 in debt then it'll be strictly for school costs, not play. Anyhow, back to the Compassion part. It makes perfect sense to me because no one should even consider investing themselves into anything without having that motivational driving force known as PASSION.
Compassion, on the other hand, leads us to love, to achieve, to move forward, to make differences. Because compassion is our deep routed desire to alleviate others' pain and discomfort or distress.

Why does this speak to me so much? It's me! I want to save the world. I want to take away the hurt. I want other's to have the opportunities to live pain-free or pain-reduced lives. Most of all I want to address the problems that may arise in an adolescents life which most people view as deviant behavior, but may in fact be something much more... What if our children really are good children? What if their acting out is simply a disorder that they are battling which no one has identified? What if they have Bipolar 2?

And now I look toward Grad School. I know now what I have been trying to find for the last year and 5 months. I now know where I am supposed to be in 5 days, in 5 months, and in 5 years. The unnecessary stress and anxiety is gone. The clarity is refreshing! And so maybe it took Travis and I both moving away from our comfort zones, the people we love and care about, and our overall cultural norms to identify what we needed for ourselves. And maybe to develop the Passion for our futures and for me to channel my Compassion.

But the greatest news of all is that we are coming home! We have seen the struggles of society from a different perspective. And frankly and much sadder perspective... When we were in Oregon we kept hearing how bad the employment rate was in Central Oregon and how massive the job losses were... How things were only going to get worse.... Well think of this. Oregon has a much higher minimum wage, for those seeking minimum wage part-time jobs to make ends meet, than the rest of the U.S. And the whole cost of living crap that economists have determined is far from accurate. Here in Tennessee, I am still working to break even from the amount of money I have had to put into my uniform requirement for my $2.13/hr serving job at a fine dining establishment where the guests only tip 10% because I am in the south!!

So, the grass is actually greener in Oregon! And I intend to kiss the ground it grows from when I return in t-59 days!