Are You Thinking of Quitting School?
Are you thinking of quitting school? Well, you’re not alone. I thought about it when I was in high school. I thought about it so much that I did quit – twice!
School was boring. The teachers were demanding. All the other guys seemed to have money, but I didn’t. I wanted a car, and I wanted excitement out of life. So I quit school.
Boredom, pressure and frustration would be replaced by an exciting job, money, a car and loads of fun!
My first full-time job, working in the stockroom of a department store, looked like the road to happiness. I would have money, fun, a car and even more fun!
Sure, I had lots of fun, when the truck drivers weren’t hounding me to unload the trucks faster. When three different department managers weren’t demanding I find their merchandise first and deliver it to their department with a smile. When my demanding boss was not growling or yelling at me.
The fun really started after I bought my first car. That’s when I found out the pressures of school were not so bad. Being several thousand dollars in debt was a weight on my shoulders that outweighed any term paper or math assignment!
The pressure grew. I started to hate my job. The fun was too much! But when you have car payments every month, you can’t just quit or give a grand excuse like I had done in school. The commitments are real, and must be met.
Time passed and I started to ask myself if I would like to be a stock boy until I retired in 48 years. To have this much fun for 48 years didn’t sound like something I wanted to do. Without an education, I realized not much else would be open to me, so I made the hard decision to return to school the following year.
Returning to school after you quit demands humility. Your friends are one year ahead of you, and all my friends were going to graduate. The school year was successful, but with my friends all graduating and leaving school behind, I found myself desiring to follow. Mistake No.2 – I quit again.
This time I worked in construction. With an incomplete education and no specific training in construction, I always started with the bottom job, and didn’t climb much higher. It was often back-breaking and dirty work, lasting twice as long as a school day. I had money, yes, but not the fun and fulfillment I was looking for. Life became a dark, cloudy day.
Many times I looked for more exciting, fulfilling jobs – jobs that would better fit my talents and interests – but the employers weren’t impressed that I was a high school dropout.
I was learning the same lesson over again. Finally, after several dead-end jobs, and no real happiness, I once again returned to school and graduated.
Now, at least I had a diploma that said I could succeed and see a job finished. Talking to employment managers now wasn’t the embarrassing ordeal it had been. I no longer had to admit I was a quitter. Life was not the cloudy day it had been.
If you are thinking about quitting school, stop and deeply consider the long-term consequences. Be realistic in planning your future. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking life will work out just because it’s you.
One of the biggest mistakes any of us can make is to think we are an exception to a rule, and somehow life will work out differently for us. We won’t have the dead-end, boring jobs the other dropouts settle for. Fulfillment, happiness and a feeling of success will just naturally come our way!
Don’t believe it. Life rarely works that way. Consider the future – at your age, retirement is years away. Do you want to be a little happy for many years, or do you want to try and be very happy and fulfilled for the rest of your life?
I was much happier after graduating high school, but later when I had gone on to graduate from college, my life became even more full and satisfying.
Education opens the mind to a richer life, and I am glad I have become a banker in that type of gold!
Reconsider finishing school before you lose some valuable years. Strive to be successful in school, and you will continue successfully in life.
‘Youth’
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