To the mom who is bettering herself for the sake of her kids, I see you. All moms pursuing your education, I see you!
I see you taking night classes, online classes, and training seminars outside of work for personal or work goals. I see you grinding to almost your breaking point just to get that Associate’s, Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. degree to better your education. I see you moms who are studying for a licensing exam to be certified in your field or maybe even for that promotion. I am trying to get my Master’s this year, and it’s hard.
If no one has said this to you, you are doing amazing and I am so proud of you.
Personally, I have been working on my Master’s Degree for almost 5 years. There have been many late nights and many tears shed while pursuing my education. Dinner still had to be made, the dog still needed to go out, there are comprehensive exams to study for. oh, and there’s a kid in the picture!
Let me share with you a story of this incredible mom that I still think about to this day. When I was attending Mississippi State, I worked part-time as an Information Assistant. Being the eyes and ears of a dorm included ensuring students’ safety, handling package and food deliveries, and overseeing guests’ check-in {similar to a hotel concierge}. We could work whenever, which was amazing. It was so flexible and perfect for a college student.
I had a coworker working while pregnant and thought, “Wow superwoman. You are absolutely incredible.” I then noticed that she continued to work after having her baby, all while pursuing her education. Keep in mind, that I was maybe 19 or 20 at the time. This was crazy to me then. I could barely manage to get 6 hours of sleep a night and eat 3 meals a day, yet this momma was picking up shifts left and right while taking care of a newborn and staying in school full-time.
She was doing what any mother would do to provide, but I truly did not understand what that meant until I became a mom myself 6 years later. I thought I knew what hard work was until I became a mom trying to finish my Master’s.
Meanwhile, this mom was busting her butt to stay in school full-time to further her education and took care of a baby all while doing daily survival tasks.
I never knew if she had help outside of her partner, but I saw her grind like no other person. I saw her graduate with her Bachelor’s Degree and have her precious daughter right next to her at graduation. She was and remains to be my idea of the epitome of strength at times when being a mom is absolutely so hard.
This momma is now married with 3 beautiful kids and has a degree that no one can take away from her.
No one can take away the hard work you are doing right now, momma. I’m sure the mom I mentioned had a lot of sleepless nights and many tears were shed. I’m sure she wanted to quit when the going got tough, but she pushed and crossed that finish line. She showed me and many others that moms are so strong.
We can literally do anything we set our minds to, and we have this incredible raw strength no one can measure. Shoutout to those moms pursuing their education while being full-time moms. You are incredible.