Today and Tomorrow

I almost thought I was in dream. I woke up early to get ready for class by 9 and my day never stopped. From one class to another, from a lunch break consumed on my email to running back to campus, from campus errands to errands around town, I was running running, running. After a light dinner I set in to finally "do work" and the next thing I knew it was 11:30pm and I had not even finished everything on my to-do list. Now I knew I just needed to take the gulp because tomorrow was simply going to be: rinse and repeat. So I say I ALMOST thought I was in a dream, only because it was all a blur. Then I realized this is no dream, this is a form of deja vu because guess what....I am back in school. I am back in business and reaching high when life politely said....welcome to your masters program.

So far this has entailed a constant push to improve in everything I do, a relentless need to stay on top of everything and everyone I meet, and the need to make plans for a future in which I will one day be skilled enough to apply for.
That is the most interesting part. I have peers who are already applying for work when they get out in a year and others taking on part time work or internships, if they aren't doing it already, in order to prepare themselves for our graduation in August. It is daunting to think that you must be confident now that in a year you will be accomplished and prepared. As for me, I am getting by pretty well, but with this future in mind, I know that I am only growing because of an amazing friend I have met.

This friend talks me through my bad days. Like the one where I all of my news leads crashed into dead ends just before my deadline. The day where all the polite people were on vacation and all the rude ones were available for interviews. The day where I was yelled at by random strangers and was phoned back only minutes after I handed in a less than satisfactory piece of copy. Oh yeah, that day. Well, that was the day we met. She told me that it will get better, she told me that one day I will be a fine journalist and writer who will look back and laugh at this memory. She told me that I am strong, courageous and tough. I am quick witted, talented, smart and while I may not be successful my life is purposeful.

It was that day I realized the friend I met was my future self. For some reason this horrible day had turned for the better because instinctively I knew that each of these things would one day be true about me. Yet I also knew that they could never be true if I didn't believe that it was me to who was pulling myself through it. The connection was the important part. It was as if my grown self was pulling me into life so that it could exist and yet without believing this connection, it could never come to be. As odd as it sounds, there is no rhyme or reason to this revelation, it is what it is and for some reason I believe it to be true.

As if to confirm it all, on this very frustrating and painfully depressing day I was told that I had been accepted into the specialism I had applied for. World Faiths.

I will get to study key beliefs of the major world religions and explore how their values describe a world view. I get to explore the cultural, religious and racial differences that often present misunderstandings and volatile mixtures of politics, culture and religion.
I am told that my tutors are Pratap Rughani (an award winning writer and documentary film producer/director with BBC who has an MA in religious philosophy and one in journalism as well) and Ruth Gledhill (the Religion Correspondent at the Times). I am also told we will be given the opportunity to have a week's work experience at the Times and write and blog for them as well.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic with this news. So as I take on this new school year, I prepare myself for long days and restless nights but more importantly, I am making way for a path shaped by the future to come.