Going to school as an adult with a family and a full-time job is stressful and involves a lot of sacrifice.

I know this well because I’m one of those adults.

I never expected to be in school in my 40s, but, honestly, who does? Due to some unexpected life choices, I didn’t earn my bachelor’s degree four years after graduating from high school like many people do. At times, I’ve felt like a failure because I was always did really well in school. As a matter of fact, I once aspired to earn a PhD. (I’ll open up more about all this in a future blog post.)

Fast forward to today: I’ve been proudly back in school at the University of Arizona since 2023 thanks to my employer, Target, and Guild. Had it not been for that, I wouldn’t have been able to attend school.

Yesterday marked the first day of the spring semester at the University of Arizona. This semester, I’m taking Math 100–a remedial math class—and French 102.

This morning, I set up at the dining table to get cracking on everything.

I have a desk upstairs in our bonus room, but I tend to get lonely sitting up there for extended periods of time. As a result, I often make my way downstairs where there’s more light and room to spread out my laptop and other materials.

With two classes to squeeze in to my busy life (and also living with ADHD), it can often be tricky to keep everything organized. I use a planner I bought from Colibri last summer, and it’s been an absolute game changer.

Never in my life as a student have I been able to easily keep up with all the myriad assignments, quizzes, tests, and due dates in addition to daily tasks and my work schedule. I don’t feel as overwhelmed and stressed.

That said, it’s time for me to return to my studies. Here’s to being a proud University of Arizona Wildcat.

BEAR DOWN!