New Beginnings

Its funny how a start of something new also means the loss of another…

Laura Li - STEM Career Consultant

Reminiscing to the beginning of this semester, I was really looking forward to the new school year. I was excited to meet new colleagues, gain new experiences and continue on with my journey here at UC Merced. During the first couple of weeks of the semester, I was running around all over campus, attending meetings and workshop, brainstorming ideas for upcoming events, adaptating to my new classes and work schedule, as well getting accustomed to my new job as a Career Consultant. Being held accountable for all these commitments that I agreed to take on was challenging because I didn’t want to let anyone down. I knew that I had it in me to accomplish all of these tasks and was determined to do so.  Just when everything seemed to be going as planned, things took a complete turn. Suddenly, I got the news that my best friend of almost nine years had passed away. And so it was, the beginning of my senior year of college and dealing with a lost of someone that I held dearly close to my heart. At this very moment, I couldn’t help, but to drop everything, my world felt like it was crashing down, all of the determination and eagerness to fulfill my duties as a student and a worker slowly began to decenergrate. I couldn’t focus; I wasn’t unable to complete my assignments, all I could think about was my best friend. A week passed by and I decided to call off some commitments that I had made from work and school to head back home and attend her service. I needed a few days to myself so I could gather my thoughts and emotions together to pay tribute and say my final goodbyes. When I finally came back to work and school after such a heart-breaking weekend, the last thing I could do was to stay on track and focus. But somehow I found the courage in me to move pass this and continue. I knew that the more I kept myself productive, the more it would keep my mind off of the situation. Couple of weeks passed by, and midterms began to come up.  I found myself slowly getting back in my routine of work and school. I came to a realization that work and school provided me with a distraction. Focusing on each task helped me create a forward momentum, a push that was able to propel me into this new phase of my life.  Even though my best friend had passed, everything must still go on. I continued with this forward driving force and kept focus on accomplishing all of my school work and work outside of school. Even though the beginning of something new resulted in a lost of another, starting new projects and tasks gave me that extra boost to continue pursuing new opportunities. Dealing with this experience taught me that life is always going to have unexpected turns, but you must continue to keep reaching your goals and move forward from it.