Not even in my wildest dreams had I dared to dream of spending the summer semester studying French in Paris, let alone two summers in row. Don't get me wrong, it didn't fall in my lap, I had to work for it. But I didn't even know that it was a possibility when I felt stuck, completely stuck, working a corporate job that made me miserable the last 3 of the 12 years of my employment there. The minute (not really the minute, had to plan it months ahead) I quit my corporate job, I went back to school to get my Masters; a major in English and a minor in French. The rest was history. As scared as I was; being a middle aged man (yes I said it), having financial commitments, supporting a family member, I took a chance and it paid off.
The point of sharing this is to say that what I knew and believed in; a door closes, another opens, would only happen to other people, not me. Yeah I preached to my friends to take a chance, to go for it, to hang in there, told them that tomorrow is another day and the blessings are there, but that positive healthy approach seemed too good to be true in my case.
After three years of struggling and putting up with the new management at work, I finally quit. When I did and went back to school, I had to fulfill six prerequisites, two of which, were courses in a foreign language. When I chose French, something crazy good happened a few months later. I earned a scholarship to do a French course level 2 at the French Catholic school of Paris in 2014. I knew that it was an experience of a lifetime and that I would cherish every moment of it since I never thought it would repeat. I continued my studies and earned yet another scholarship to do a French course level 5 at the same school, summer of 2015. The blessings that are out there waiting for us will have more room when we make more room. I am a humbled student of life and I am grateful to taking a chance on myself and to standing up for what I believe in, which made my life miserable at work, but gave me an incentive to seek what is out there. I am sharing because I hope that someone out there who might be feeling the same way I had just a year ago, might get inspired and step out of the "compromise" and "this is as good as it gets" mentality and make bold choices. Take a chance on yourself, you are worth it baby ;)
The point of sharing this is to say that what I knew and believed in; a door closes, another opens, would only happen to other people, not me. Yeah I preached to my friends to take a chance, to go for it, to hang in there, told them that tomorrow is another day and the blessings are there, but that positive healthy approach seemed too good to be true in my case.
After three years of struggling and putting up with the new management at work, I finally quit. When I did and went back to school, I had to fulfill six prerequisites, two of which, were courses in a foreign language. When I chose French, something crazy good happened a few months later. I earned a scholarship to do a French course level 2 at the French Catholic school of Paris in 2014. I knew that it was an experience of a lifetime and that I would cherish every moment of it since I never thought it would repeat. I continued my studies and earned yet another scholarship to do a French course level 5 at the same school, summer of 2015. The blessings that are out there waiting for us will have more room when we make more room. I am a humbled student of life and I am grateful to taking a chance on myself and to standing up for what I believe in, which made my life miserable at work, but gave me an incentive to seek what is out there. I am sharing because I hope that someone out there who might be feeling the same way I had just a year ago, might get inspired and step out of the "compromise" and "this is as good as it gets" mentality and make bold choices. Take a chance on yourself, you are worth it baby ;)
