Master of Social Media

Last week I handed in my last assignment for school which means I’m DONE with grad school. Just typing those words still feels surreal.

If you’ve been following along over the last two years you know that my grad school experience has had a lot of ups and downs. There were many (many) times I thought about dropping out. But it happened. I survived business school. I survived countless group projects. And I survived taking a math class for the first time since I was 17. That’s a huge deal!

Was it worth it?

A couple of friends have asked me was it worth it? And if I’m now happy I decided to finish what I started. The truth is I don’t know. And maybe I won’t know until a few years from now.

[Side note: I want to acknowledge my extreme privilege that I didn’t go into debt to pursue my graduate degree. I know that is not the case for most people pursuing higher education.]

What I do know is grad school gave me the opportunity to explore my side passions. Which I know is totally *not* the point of grad school. But my funky school schedule made it possible for me to teach yoga sculpt at CorePower Yoga this past year. It allowed me to create Holistic Happening with Leslie. It’s also allowed me to attend blogger events and spend odd hours of the day writing and creating content.

Despite not attending a single networking event at my school I still managed to connect with some pretty cool people in my masters program that made group projects more bearable.

I didn’t learn all I wanted to in grad school. In fact I didn’t learn a ton about social media, despite what my diploma will say. But I’m also a believer that SO much of learning isn’t about the substance you learn but more so what you learn in the process. Very meta, I know.

I did learn a lot about myself thanks to grad school. I learned that in group situations I prefer to be the head bitch in charge. I learned how to multi-task and juggle ALL the things at once. Although I don’t recommend doing that for two years straight. And I was reminded that when I put my mind to something, be it run a marathon or conquer a statistics class, I will make it happen.

So, now what?

I don’t know.

What I do know: Most likely my career will continue to be a blend of things I’m super passionate about. I love teaching yoga. It fills me with so much joy. It’s when I feel the most alive, the most present and the most authentically me. And apparently I don’t totally suck at it. I know for sure I want to focus more of my energy on teaching now that grad school is no longer in the mix. And that will definitely be happening 🙂 More on that soon!

I also am excited to shift my energy back towards blogging, something I haven’t always been consistent about during finals or this last month when I was writing ALL the research papers. When I was traveling last month I had a lot of ideas about what I want to do with KITC and I’m excited to start implementing these things.

And I’m pursuing additional job opportunities and freelance gigs in writing and social media without driving myself insane writing cover letters. I’m doing my best to keep an open mind and explore any and all opportunities that come my way.

There’s a lot I don’t know, but I’m pretty freaking excited for whatever is next.