Huntsville's Promise
Our Children Our Future
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Positive View of Personal Future: Imagining the Road Ahead Brian Miller President - Boys and Girls Club of Walker County SHSU Director-Educator Preparation Services “You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it.” I can remember hearing this phrase growing up - it was my mother’s quiet way of building me up - the middle of her three sons. Mom began to instill that belief in me as a child, and it was her greatest gift to me as I left home after graduating from my high school in the Rio Grande Valley. I had made a decision to go to college, though I knew my parents were not going to be able to provide much financial support for my education. Going to college was one of the first steps in my “Positive View of my Personal Future.” Neither of my parents had been to college - I was the first in my immediate family to go to college and get a degree. I did not think much about that at the time, but have since realized that I fall into the category of a “first-generation college graduate.” Part of the process of doing what you want to do in life, is to imagine yourself - visualize yourself - where you would like to be. This process began for me in my early years of high school. Have your long term goal in mind, then try to work daily towards that goal, which is probably the biggest trick. There were (and continue to be) twists and turns in the road, and I have learned to anticipate those unexpected detours and roadblocks. Detour: The summer before I was to start college at a large out-of-state university, my plans changed, and I ended up going to a university in Texas, which was not as far away, but still several hours away from home. During that first year of college, plans changed again, and I transferred to another university in north Texas, where I completed my degree and teacher certification. Another Detour: My plans to begin teaching changed in the last year of my undergraduate program, and I ended up returning to the university I had transferred from to work on my Master’s degree. Generally, I wouldn’t recommend going straight into graduate school, but in my situation I was used to being a student on a budget, and decided to keep eating macaroni for a couple more years. Financial Roadblock (and the valuable sidetrips around them): The loans, grants, and scholarships never covered all my college expenses, and I typically worked summers and had more than one part-time job while in school. I worked construction, worked at a gas station and a cotton gin, was a grocery sacker at Safeway, and was a parking lot attendant and burger flipper at Burger Chef (I don’t think we have those anymore). I roofed houses one summer and was a waiter and bartender at a couple of restaurants. Another summer job included being a salesman in West Virginia during a coal miner strike (bad timing). The summer before starting graduate school, while recovering from an injury to my foot (just before I was to begin a construction job with a swimming pool company), I demonstrated vacuum cleaners (I don’t think I actually sold any, but was “paid by the demo”). Early in my teaching career, to pay on my loans, during the summer I supplemented my income as a limousine driver in Dallas, worked construction, and worked again at a restaurant. I share these experiences because all my part-time and short-term employment were great jobs that helped me grow as a person, AND literally got me through school, but working those jobs also served to sharpen my focus on the career I began visualizing in high school. Two “focusing” events in my early college years motivated me forward towards my goals: 1) walking into the forest for a “talk with myself and the weeds” after a particularly bad day at the end of a bad week as a salesman and 2) missing a football game to pull weeds from a sun-baked Fort Worth lawn on a hot Saturday afternoon in August. These were two defining moments when I envisioned myself doing something different, but the weeds were an important part of my path. My suggestion for a young person: Set your mind on what you want to do: imagine it, visualize it, make it a goal, and hang on to it through all the distractions of life, of which there will be many. Know there is a good chance THE GOAL will change a bit in time, but it is essential to have the goal, because it can serve as a constant focal point for the positive view of your personal future. The target may move a bit, but having the target, THE GOAL, gives you something to look up at, to focus on in your life. |
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