Jumping Hurdles

In junior high and high school I always wanted to be one of those runners that could jump hurdles. It looked….fun? tragically cool? One day I was somewhere- maybe some youth event or something- and there were hurdles. I had the great idea that I’d give it a try- no instructions, no training, no warm-up, nothing. I stood at the start and was convinced that I as missy long legs and I was cut out for it, regardless of whatever else I may be missing. I took my running start and BAM! I slammed right into the hurdle. I got myself up and told myself “E, you can do this..it looks so easy.” I walked back to the staring place and took my running start again……BAM! I slammed right into the hurdle a second time. This time it was my pride that hurt. I decided a couple tries was about all I was interested in giving this little hurdle jumping experience. It was a lot more than I had bargained for, let’s just say that.

Getting my PhD has been a lot like my experience jumping hurdles. I’m at the start of the track and I can see all the hurdles lined up before me- the GRE, Admissions, comprehensive exams, dissertation, and defending the dissertation. I’ve been out of school for a little while and quite frankly I’m a little out of shape, especially to be running the sprint I just started. And by sprint, I really mean like 100 yard dash. Estimated graduation time Spring of 2012. In fact, I’m already (almost) 5 classes down.

This Christmas I took the GRE. This was my biggest hurdle, or what I thought was going to be my biggest hurdle. Reading and test taking have never really been my strong point and having little time to study didn’t help my confidence level any. (not to mention I spent 2 weeks studying vocabulary reading the book upside down, oopsie!) I took the exam and on the first try I scored well over enough for admissions. The only explanation I have for passing the GRE is a lot of prayer and a bigger will for my life than what I can control. My second hurdle, gaining full (non-provisional) admissions, was pretty easy; the first hurdle was the only thing standing in my way. So, on the first day of class, exactly 2 hours before class started, I was granted full admissions into the program I’m already pretty much halfway through.

Until October, my big hurdles are out of the way. Although, that doesn’t mean that in the meantime I’m not training on some mini hurdles - “omg, what am I doing to myself” hurdles, reading assignments, papers, motivation, friends, priorities, work, sit at the computer and just cry hurdles, “omg, I can’t do this” hurdles, etc- some days are great days, other days are a lot like my very first experience jumping hurdles.... tragically uncool. I guess life has a funny way of working itself out and I got my hurdle jumping experience after all…



"The ability to succeed requires the realization of what one wants and the passionate desire to attain it."