My Christmas wish for YOU

For Christmas this year, I wish that you all could go back to school as a grown-up.
It is really ever SO much FUN!

What a different experience! I look around the classroom and think, yeah that would have been me...sleeping in class...doing only the bare minimum...asking neighbors if I had missed a quiz the day before.

I'm glad I don't have to worry about dating or late nights or socializing with the cool kids. Its not like I don't have other things to worry about, but diaper rashes, grocery lists and church callings seem so much less life-altering.

I think the absolute worst time to be in college is when you are dating someone seriously - the two just don't go together. Therefore, although it doesn't totally make sense, I feel like maybe people shouldn't start college until after they're married - but then make sure to finish college before they have kids. I've found that it's easier to concentrate and actually learn things when your life is already kind of figured out.

Going back to school means working hard at rearranging priorities - which means you have to make every experience worth it. It actually made me more productive in all areas of my life because I had to try to fit it all in.

The thing I love most about going back to school is that I actually learned something. I wasn't just there because I had to be there. I didn't just memorize things that I thought might be on the test, and I didn't just forget everything the next day. I was in class because I wanted to be there. I want to learn the material and actually really know it. I want to apply things in my life and remember everything. Education is so exciting!

I was scared that I wouldn't be smart enough (because I didn't feel very smart in college the first time). Turns out, if you actually read the chapters and actually do the suggested problems, and actually stay awake in class, and actually participate in the lectures, it doesn't really matter how smart you are - you can't help but learn the material. What a novel idea.

And I don't want any of you to underestimate yourself!

I wish I had known all this stuff the first time round. I wish I had taken better advantage of the opportunities I had. I wish I hadn't wasted so much of my school years. But I am so glad that I get to have this new opportunity now. It is so fun to go back to school and wish that same feeling of success on all of you!