Life is full of mysteries and surprises. One day you are feeling down and the next you visualize all kinds of opportunities knocking at your door.
When I listen to other students with great confidence and fluent speech, I can only wish to be like them, and struggle thinking that it will take me years to gain those skills, if I can even achieve them. I used to feel highly disadvantaged. How would I find a place for me when there are so many people with better self-selling skills? Will anyone in my field take me seriously? How can I fit here? How can I provide my children with the life I came pursuing for them? (that question kills me). After all, my job as a parent is to construct a solid self esteem. I need to provide my children with the environment and resources they need to feel equal and important at this early stage; after that (as I read in a post of my blogger friends), it will be too late.
My first year here was amazing, I was full of certainty, energy, and excitement. Totally empowered for the successful achievement of one milestone in my life, that was studying abroad and bringing my family to Canada. Huge feeling. Full of inspiration. I got immersed in my research, which I strongly believe in, and finished my experiments after almost two years. At that point, with the writing of my thesis ahead and the end of studies approaching, I started to feel full of uncertainty. I stressed about the future; the professional stage, the needs of my family, and the purpose that brought me here in the first place. A gut feeling embraced me as the dawn arose to open my eyes and end with the dream to face reality. When thinking of goal realization, it does not matter whether we have a very specific idea or a general goal of taking the best job opportunity available. When it comes to our goal realization, many of us may struggle. In my case, I know exactly what I want but I was clueless where or how to start, it seemed almost unrealistic and even more so in a foreign Country with a foreign language. Now I am finding the resources that our University and the Province have for us at this stage of our graduate studies. There are several programs and advisors for entrepreneurs and early professionals to support us to structure our professional path and break down our desires and aspirations into understandable and structured steps. EDGE, Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship, Atlantic Canada Study and Stay NL, the Internationalization Office, all of which are willing to guide us, we just have to reach out. I have learned now that it’s good to focus on the next small step, then we can reach every milestone. And I am confident that everyone must walk their own walk, at their own pace. We must trust that it will work because we have already taken the first step towards our goal and are continuing to walk our walk.
I am approaching the final stretch, and Memorial is helping me shape and reach my next step. Personally, I think Memorial University is the perfect place not only for studying, but for defining the next steps to our personal and professional success.
My wish for all of us, is to find our own path that leads to our goal achievement.
~Isabel