Continuing Education... And Continuing... And Continuing...

I'm dying to go back to school now that I know I hate the graphic design field from what I learned while studying graphic design through the online division of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. I enjoyed a few of my projects and I did well in my classes, but I did not enjoy the creative process of graphic design work, which required me to think of the customer and their goals first, rather than my own (or even a shared) artistic vision. Graphic design is a job I could do freelance and do from home, which is why I was pursuing it, but it's a job I would hate.

Of course, I can't return to school right now, not just because I'm pregnant, but because of our European travel plans; if we weren't going out of the country, I'd take a class during a couple Delgado's mini-sessions. Carl and I are planning to get me back in school about seven months after our baby's due date (October sixth), which will be right in time for Delgado's summer session. I'm not going to return full time initially, because if I have been breastfeeding I want to continue pumping and breastfeeding for at least the first year, which would be amazingly difficult with a full class load; it would also be difficult to get childcare for such a busy schedule, while I can depend on my parents for babysitting a few hours every day while I attend my classes.

I'd love to study horticulture, but because of my auto-immune disorder I have to accept that I can't regularly do the hard work that horticulture requires, especially during our long, hot, humid summers. I love gardening, learning about plants, and educating others about them, so I will probably take a few horticulture classes when I return to school, but I'm not planning to make it my focus.

Instead, I'm going to return to school for American Sign Language interpreting. I didn't discover how wonderful ASL is until I took my first class at Delgado, although I was always interested in it. I know interpreting would be a fun, challenging, stimulating career and becoming a licensed interpreter might open other doors for me in various fields working with the Deaf community. I'd love to be able to one day work with Deaf children in the visual arts field, which I think would be amazing, but initially I'm going to focus on ASL interpreting.

I'd also one day like to become a licensed yoga instructor, because that's another one of my great loves. I first began practicing yoga when I was twelve or thirteen and for many years I enjoyed my daily practice, which I now miss. That isn't one of my priorities, though, because I'd like to do something more meaningful and I believe yoga instructors should give a great deal of free lessons, because one of the fundamental principles of yoga is that it should be given as a gift to anyone willing to learn, which will not help us with our tight budget. Teaching yoga and remaining true to the principles of yoga is extremely meaningful, in my opinion, but I don't know any yoga instructors who truly seem to keep them in mind.

I do need to get back to my daily yoga practice, however, because I know it would be good for me, both spiritually and physically; plus, it's just so limiting to be without the amazing flexibility I had back when I was doing yoga daily!

In short, yoga is great and you should try it (but not if you have to pay for it).