On a cool evening in November of 2010, I stood outside of South-Central Church of Christ doors. Silently refusing to enter as I battled with feelings of melancholy. I remember so many uncertainties about the direction of my life racing through my mind. Somehow a seemingly productive young adult has ended up jobless, disenrolled from college, and reluctantly returned to reside with her parents. Needless to say, that was the worse year of my life (even post COVID times). I wasn’t myself. The “myself” that I knew who was always optimistic and motivated. Most of my friends and colleagues appeared to have it all figured out by now as they have graduated college.

I contemplated some more on whether to go in or go home when a young man approached me. I had only met him once earlier during a young adult gathering at the minister’s house. He and his wife were friendly and hard-working professionals. I don’t remember much of what we discussed that evening; however, I do remember having a sense of hopefulness. He gave me his business card because he thought I would make a good optical consult for his office. I applied and rather quickly was hired by Eye Care Associates (ECA) but not as an optical consult. I started training on Dec 10^th for my call center job in the home office. Opportunity.

Reflections during this period:

Sometimes you must show up even when you don’t feel like it. It is necessary to evaluate the consequences and benefits of our actions. Thank you to my church family for being a community of love and support throughout the years.

This series is titled 12 Years a Student. I will share my journey to becoming an optometrist throughout several posts. Subscribe to get notifications for the new posts. Graduation gifts are unnecessary but always appreciated. If you would like to send something, then my Cashapp is $missBERbie or PayPal at paypal.me/missberladyTTC.