Some people turn 31 and decide to slow down a little.
I decided to go back to university.
Because apparently, working full-time wasn't keeping me busy enough. 🤣
I already have a Fine Arts degree, a master's degree, and a career. You'd think I'd have learned by now that university assignments come with deadlines, exams require preparation, and coffee cannot technically replace sleep.
And yet, here I am.
Back in a classroom, rediscovering the joys of student life: evening classes, weekend study sessions, midterms, and the sudden realisation that an exam is approaching much faster than expected.
This is my first semester back, and I'm already wondering who approved this plan.
Oh, right. Me.
That makes it worse.
My days now involve working full-time, attending classes, studying in the evenings, and trying to fit everything into a schedule that occasionally makes me question my understanding of time itself.
Saturday? Studying.
Sunday? Also studying.
A beautiful sunny afternoon? A brief internal debate about whether I should enjoy the weather or finish another chapter.
And somewhere nearby, Figo is sitting on my textbooks, blissfully unaware that he is the only one in this household making consistently good life choices.
I could have spent my evenings watching television. I could have developed a relaxing hobby. I could have enjoyed my weekends like a perfectly reasonable adult.
Instead, I voluntarily returned to university.
I would like to speak to the management.
But here's the thing about going back to university at 31: it's different when you've already lived a little.
You've studied, worked, built a life, and taken a few unexpected detours. You have responsibilities that don't disappear just because you have an assignment due.
You also know that life doesn't always follow a straight line.
My academic journey has already taken me through Fine Arts and a master's degree. And now, I'm exploring science.
It's not exactly the route I would have predicted years ago, but perhaps that's part of the fun.
I don't have every step mapped out. I don't have a perfectly polished five-year plan sitting beside my textbooks. I have questions, interests, ambitions, and a willingness to see where this takes me.
Of course, that doesn't mean I don't overthink it.
I still question my decisions. I still have moments when I look at everything on my plate and wonder whether I've confused ambition with a desire to make my life unnecessarily complicated.
But then I remember why I started.
I'm curious. I want to learn. I want to explore possibilities I haven't explored before.
And I don't want to talk myself out of something simply because it would be easier to stay where I am.
The funny thing is, going back to school has reminded me that being a beginner is uncomfortable at any age. You don't immediately understand everything. You make mistakes, ask questions, and occasionally stare at your notes as if the answers might magically reveal themselves if you look long enough.
But you learn.
And slowly, things begin to make sense.
At 31, I'm discovering that you can have an established career and still want something different. You can hold multiple degrees and still be a beginner. You can be proud of what you've accomplished and still be curious about what else you might become.
You don't have to choose one version of yourself forever.
I don't know exactly where this journey will take me. For now, I'm taking it one semester at a time.
There are more subjects ahead, more things to learn, and plenty of opportunities to question my life choices along the way.
But that's a problem for next semester.
For now, I'm showing up, doing the work, drinking my coffee, and trying to maintain some semblance of a life outside university.
One class at a time.
One deadline at a time.
One small existential crisis at a time.
Anyway, back to studying. I have a reputation to maintain and a midterm to survive .
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