Got2Gab.com

I recently saw the photo of a good friend, on one of the social networking websites and I realized how good she looked after a little pruning.  It made me think to myself, “When was the last time  I colored or cut my hair?”

I think something about a woman makes her want to always look good, and nearly stop at nothing to get it done. A fresh cut and color does just the right thing to make a person feel refreshed, renewed and ready for a change.

Due to the current economy, tons of stores are offering coupon deals for these things, as well as major discounts for Summer clothes, since it’s nearly at an end. This is the time to gather up the pennies you have lying around the house, and use it for something useful. Buy yourself some new clothes, and get rid of the old raddy outfits you’ve been wearing for years.

Did you ever sit around and realize that most women get prepared to go out, by taking a shower, blowdrying their hair, possibly flat ironing their hair as well, putting a full face of makeup on, and then wearing their nicest clothes, as well as spritzing themselves with their favorite perfume’s before going out?

And what do they do when they want to stay home and rest with their spouse and kids?  They just wear the nastiest, biggest, most-unattractive and quite frankly hideous clothes they can find around the house, since they deem them as comfortable.  The thing is, don’t you want to keep on attracting the one you love? Don’t you think that if you look good, smell good, feel good, you’ll be a happier more joyful person to be around?

So, while you sit and ponder the accuracy of my statements, surf online for something new to purchase and go out and get it! Within reason of coarse!

I’m sitting here thinking to myself, I realize that at this juncture in our national and international economy, I don’t know of even one family who is not struggling with money problems.

In the past, many people were interested in getting the best of everything to keep up with the Jones’.  But, since the economy has taken a dive, most of those people have changed with the times and are no longer interested in getting the latest bag, shoes, or outfit. Most people just want to be able to pay their rent or house payments, as well as being able to afford to pay all their other bills.

Something I was never told, which I wish I was, is that we should choose our college majors very carefully.  Know what you’re interested in, of coarse, but also look up what jobs are the most sought after, and how much money they actually stand to make. It may make you think twice before choosing the career path you loved, if you realize that there aren’t any jobs of that type out there, or that they make very little money.

One great example of this is - I have a good friend whom I’ve known since childhood and she got her Master’s degree in something that she was interested in, but hadn’t studied what her career would be like or if she could even get a job once she’d graduated. It took her the longest time to find a job and she eventuially had to get a job in a car dealership or all places.  She is now considering going back to school to become a Nurse, as several of her family members are, and listen to the adice her mother gave her years ago.

It’s a shame that after all the money spent on schooling, all the time wasted on a career path she isn’t using, and the lack of money she is experiencing (which forced her to work in a car dealership), she is now trying to reconfigure her life and go into the medical field.

I too did somewhat of the same thing. I went to culinary school and graduated, worked in the field for several years, went back to school to get my ECE teaching credentials, worked in that field for several years, and then became a stay at home Mom.  Now, if I get the chance to go back to school, I will probably also go for something in the medical field, since it’s so highly sought after and it pays really well.   I can’t fathom what I could be able to save, if I make the kind of money I think I can make with this new chosen career.

I guess as we age, we evolve, we learn, we experience, but I wish someone had told me just what I’m telling you now.

So, before you think of returning back to school for something you love, without researching the kind of pay you are to expect, or finding out if there even is a job market for that career; look up the highest paying jobs, decide if you can do them, find a college that is nearby that can give you the degree or certification you desire and then go from there. You’ll have come up with a much more reasonable idea of what you should do that way.  So, think twice when deciding what career path you wish to follow.

Back in the old days, when there was no such thing as the internet, people used to go for hours on end, on a campus, to complete the tedious work involved in getting a college degree.

In fact, decades ago, even before that, it was a huge feat to have gotten a high school degree.  Then years later, a high school diploma alone was obsolete.

At that point, having an associates degree was something to strive for.  Then once enough people caught on and attained that goal, the bachelor’s degree became something that was highly sought after.

Since that time, the bachelor’s degree has been accomplished by many people, so now it is a common thing to have a bachelor’s degree, it’s no longer as important as it once was.

It seems like the tide is changing, yet again, and now the Master’s degree and Doctorate degree are something to strive for.

How easily we forget the past.  And all the experiences of generations long ago. But, with the coming of age, and the wave of the future, we must change with the times.

So, now that we’ve gone through all that, lets discuss what options we have.  Once you’ve decided what kind of degree you are planning on getting, how much you’re willing to spend, and how far from home you’re willing to travel, it’s time to decide HOW you wish to attain your degree.

Do you:

• wish to get your degree through traditional, on campus, methods?
• wish to be a self starter, and take online classes to achieve your degree and fit schooling into your busy schedule?
• or take classes called credit by exam (which usually involves prepping for the tests by studying clip notes, paying the minimal fee for the test, and going to a campus and taking it. If you pass, then you don’t have to take the actual class which would have required weeks of hard work and dedication.)

I personally have done the first two, but I intend on getting to the third option, shortly.

Going to college campus when I was fresh out of high school, was an awesome experience for me, I learned a lot about myself, came out of my shell, to some degree and felt all the better for it.

Once I had graduated with my degree, worked in the field for years and then decided to go back to school, I decided I wanted to go online.  I was working full time, taking care of the usual responsibilities, as well as attending an online college.  It worked perfectly for me, because I studied when I fit it into my schedule and found the time.

I plan on going back to college, as soon as I can. As for right now, I’m searching for colleges that offer accredited online college degrees, that are affordable, prestigious and offer the degree that suits me.

Mind you, it may be quite hard to juggle writing articles for this site, my family life, writing my novels, and the usual stuff on top of getting an education, but what are the alternatives?

Shall I sit by and watch as everyone else gets a better job, gets paid more, lives better, while I whine and complain that I never got around to advancing myself?

No, for me- learning is living. You don’t stop learning until you’re dead.  So, in order to advance myself and my family (along with me), I must continue to pursue my education, and you should too!

When most people are trying to decide what career they want to pursue and figure out what to enroll for in college, they usually try to pick something their parents have encouraged them to sign up for, or something that they’re passionate about.
There’s no harm in picking a subject that you really like and going with it, but I suggest doing a fair amount of research beforehand.  Will the career path that you are ready to enter be worth it in the end?

You need to find out the answers to questions like:

• how many years will it take for me to complete this degree?
• how much money should I expect to be making once I graduate?
• are the jobs in this field readily available (wherever I choose to live)?
• what kind of mental or physical requirements do I need to prepare for in advance?
• what kind of future job growth can I expect?

and so on…

The thing is, it’s all fine and well to pursue something you love, but if you love more than one career path (like I did), I suggest you weigh out your options and pick which one will fit nicely into your future life plan.

I was interested in the Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management career as well as: English & Writing, Psychology, Teaching, Art, etc. I eventually decided on Culinary Arts at the time, but looking back I think choosing English & Writing would have better suited me for the future path I wish to take.

It was a learning experience of coarse, where I went through a bit of a metomorphasis including my mind, body and spirit.  After completing my degree I felt all the better for it, and became self-confident in my own skills from what I had learned.

After years of experience, I realized that the physically and mental strain for this career path, were just not in line with what I thought I’d signed up for.  In fact, I wished I had pursued a different degree because it paid a lot more, was more prestigious, and required less physical and mental strain on me.

But, once you have chosen a career, and gone through the long hours of studying, getting your degree, working in the field, if you decide after a while that you are no longer satisfied with the decision you’ve made, you can always reevaluate your decision and go back to school, as I did.

There are more and more college’s offering online education, which makes it a lot more flexible for those of us who work and have children.  There is no longer a need to sit in classes for hours on end, and try to juggle the day to day tasks, as well as sitting through hours of mind-numbing lectures.  Online classes are now available and more and more degrees are being offered in this format.

Above all else, if you’re not sure what career path you want to choose, do some research about the most saught after careers out there, as well as highest paying careers, how many years it will take you to get this degree, as well as how much money you will need to invest in getting the degree.  All this research will be well worth the effort, if you find something you love to do that satisfies you completely and fills up your bank account.

Almost everyone has had different goals for themselves during their lifetimes.  Sometimes people are more interested in attaining wealth, advancing their careers, starting a family, traveling, or what have you.

For me, I decided to attain a good education, while I was still young and energetic. I worked in several different career fields, gained the knowledge and experience I needed, advanced my career, did a minuscule amount of traveling, and finally~ started a family.

To me, starting a family has been the most rewarding experience of them all, by a long shot.  It’s a lot of hard work, mind you, but it can’t be beat.

There are those times when the lack of sleep, or the countless tantrums gets to most parents (including me), but honestly you’ve got to take it with a grain of salt.  There’s positive and negative experiences in everything we do.  We can’t focus on all the negatives and keep it from trying to attain our goals and enriching our lives, beyond our wildest dreams.

Something that I wholeheartedly recommend, and something that has helped me a lot along the way, is keeping detailed lists.  Lists for: daily “to do’s”, goals for a year from now, goals for five years from now, and life goals.  Honestly, even if things don’t work out or completely change in your originally goals, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.  We evolve as human beings.  Every year we experience more and more things, and thus it causes our goals to morph into something a bit different.

Most of my lifelong goals as a child are much the same as my lifelong goals today, the little details may have changed a bit, but I pretty much knew what I wanted. But, that’s just me.  A lot of people don’t know exactly what they want out of life, and yet others believe that they don’t deserve to have monstrously huge dreams because they’ll never attain them.  The idea is, “You must dream it to try and acheive it”.

Goal lists are important to keep us focused, but they’re not meant to limit us. We can always do more than we planned on doing, or change some goals along the way.  But, there is no better feeling than when you know that you’re achieving goals that you’ve had for most of your life.  It’s a feeling of utter satisfaction that washes over you and makes you feel very proud for all that you have achieved.  Don’t short change yourself and push this article aside as fluff, the information I’ve given you is tried and true and is meant to help you.