Life after my Master's by Beth

Life after my Master's by Beth
There has to be life after completing a thesis or a project, but I know that I have to still do it all myself. I learned this after getting my Bachelor’s; I was told that there would be life after college by my friends and instructor’s at Rochester College. However, due to the condition of the Michigan economy, I had to make a choice. I had to decide if I wanted to continue with my education, or go back to working dead-end, hourly jobs where my abilities would ever be noticed.
I have managed to find a place in earning my Master’s degree that I always wanted, but never could find. If there isn’t life after this, then what have I found now? I have already begun to find life while earning the degree, so why couldn’t exist afterwards. Starting Monday, I take on the positions of managing editor for The Sower and will begin taking photos and occasionally writing for The Daily.
I also was able to get permission from the art college and will begin taking photography classes in the fall. I have always wanted to be a photographer and to work for a newspaper, so thanks to the way that our program is set up, I can do that. I have the ability to get a Master's in Journalism and Mass Communication at a highly ranked and competitive university with a concentration in photojournalism. Not many people can really say that they were able to “design” their own degrees.
Life after my Master’s may not mean the same to me as it does to others. I think of the irony that 6 years ago, I had lost my home, my husband was unemployed and statistics are against me that I should even be here today. I grew up in a blue collar town with a strong belief that I could do anything, but when you are looking the worst days of your life right in the eyes, you find yourself drowning in the idea that you will never get out of this.
I got out and I intend to stay out. Detroit is a tough town to grown up in, and you don’t even have to be from the city to realize that. People work hard and they play hard, but they also fall hard. The winters are cold and depressing and the summers are not always what we want them to be. If there isn’t life after getting my Master’s, then it means that not only did I fail, but I wasn’t able to shake that old “I told you so” mentality that all my naysayers had.
Life has to exist after my Master’s, not just because I have accomplished something great, but because I can’t go back to a place that leaves me wanting more all the time. I like to want more, but not to do the everyday grind that so many people back home do. I am working on becoming a photojournalist and I would not have ever been able to combine all the things I love into one degree or one programs in any other instance. So, yes, life after your degree does exist, but only if you make it.