Doing Well For Myself - my education experiences

Doing well for myself. That one particular thought keeps appearing on my mind every day. I'm turning 29 years old this year 2021. I'm in early 30s! At my age it is normally expected that I do well for myself. Have I done well for myself? What are the parameters for that?

The main idea is self-development, I think. However it is quite general and there are many aspects involved. This is the second entry regarding my thoughts upon "doing well for myself" subject. This time will be more about my education experiences.

When I was 3 years old we moved to Malang because my father got a job there. My parents rented a house. I enrolled in kindergarten and graduated in 2 years. Basically, I started my academic quite early. Most kids were 1 to 2 years older than me. My parents introduced me to reading before I enrolled in school. I think since I was still crawling as a baby. In kindergarten I was ahead than most of my classmates. When they were still being introduced to letters, I could already read syllables. When they were learning to read syllables, I could already read words and sentences. When they were learning to read words and sentences, I could already read everything fluently. I read many story books even newspapers. One time the teacher asked us to bring one story book from home and read in front of class. Because I read the book very well and fluent unlike my classmates who were still dragged the words, my teacher thought I memorized the book. She didn’t believe at first that I was good. Then she gave me tests to read other book I haven’t read before. But I could still read it well. After that, she believed that I actually good at reading.

Reading became my most favorite thing to do, until nowadays. It also helped my brain to develop better. I can say I was pretty smart. During elementary school, I was always one of the top students. I received high grades. I was never behind any subjects. I picked up things quickly. I was easy to understand anything my teachers taught us. I was in 5 top best graduates in elementary school. However, I never really obsess with being the best or number 1. My grades even though they were high or above average, they weren’t always perfect. I just enjoyed the classes. I didn’t reach for 100. As long as I understood the subject, I could do the tasks and tests, then that was enough for me. I was happy with 80 or 90.

That was how I continued on with my academic life. I got accepted in number 1 most favorite public junior high school in Malang. I was still an above average student. Luckily I graduated with pretty high scores and I got accepted in number 3 most favorite public senior high school in Malang. Those were how my schools ranked regionally at that time. I think it is still in the same position nowadays. Why public school? We thought that public school provided best education, most affordable, and easier for when we were going to apply college. The admission was highly competitive.

After high school I got accepted in college, diploma program, and major in Chemical Engineering. I took science major in high school so I chose Chemical Engineering because I didn’t want the knowledge I got to be wasted away. College was the hardest for me. I struggled with many things. I was simply average student. My debate career was more successful than my academic career. With lots of helps I could graduate. My GPA was 3,42 out of 4. That was still considered high. Many of my friends continued their study from diploma to undergraduate. I went to work right after diploma. That was in 2013.

Here I am now, 8 years later, 2021. I’m still a diploma. I did plan to continue but I was more focused in working and helping my family. Years went by I just forgot everything I learned in diploma. I’m not sure I could handle studying for undergraduate in chemical engineering. My working experience didn’t relate much to my major. My skills and knowledge weren’t being preserved.  I thought about taking undergraduate program in another major. They are completely different field and unrelated to chemical engineering. English literature and psychology are my top 2.

Working in psychiatry department, I picked up few things about psychology. I was curious. However, I kind of leaned more into English literature. I knew many people would think that career-wise, psychology is the better option. I meet people in this field every day. I can ask one of them if I need help during my study. I have access to books and materials here in hospital. I think the reason why I leaned more into English literature because psychology is more serious. It’s a good field but I feel like I need to be more serious as well. When I take under-graduate I will take the employee classes. So I will still working during the day and taking classes after that, maybe in the evenings and weekends. It will be like spending my time outside working for something better and more productive. I know English literature might be difficult as well. Just because I can communicate in English doesn’t mean that the subject will be easier for me. Maybe it will or it won’t. I honestly have no idea. Is English literature same as English novels? That’s what I read. I read novels, fictions, or maybe articles. I never really tried reading literacy. But hey, anything can happen. We live in different era. There are various options of job field. People can succeed in many ways that society in general never thought before. Everything evolves.

My family keeps pushing me to move forward. By pushing I mean in a good way. They support whatever choice I make. They help me face my fears. If everything goes smoothly which I hope it does, I will be a college student again this year. I am so grateful to have an amazing family.  

Update : Unfortunately I wasn't enrolled as college student in 2021 due to some issues. The university that I applied for English class for employees couldn't open the class because there weren't enough participants who applied. I was the only one and they had to let me go. So, I got my enrollment fee back and now I still am not a college student again.