Life without school

After three years of being in school full-time it was hard for me to imagine life without school. But there is and I am loving it probably a little too much!

I am in limbo though. I finished my last real semester a couple weeks ago but I am waiting to walk and officially graduate when Richard does so we can graduate together! So I am done, but not an official graduate. It's still so crazy to be finished. It finally hit me on Monday when school started here and Richard left for classes. But it made me sad dropping him off and watching him walk to class because we only had about half a dozen classes that weren't the same. That is the hardest part of being done. I will miss him so much when he is in class!

Here are some of the few random thoughts I have at the conclusion of my undergraduate degree:

1. Taking breaks will help your grades be higher. When ever I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed I would take a break and when I got back to my homework, I always did better. Try it; it has been scientifically proven.

2. Grades are not everything. I am so sad that I realized this in my last semester of college, but it helped that semester be so much better. College is to help you learn more, not to get perfect grades. Learn to just enjoy the simple beauty of learning new things because that is what college is about.

3. I am a behaviorist. There are all different kinds of theories in Psychology and I am definitely a behaviorist. In short, behaviorists believe that success in life is based on action and taking responsibility for our problems, rather than putting the responsibility for your problems on others. I am totally against psychoanalytical theory because it's whole basis is founded in the fact that you do not have control over your own problems. I know that I am simplifying, but for the sake of space and time, it will do. Behaviorism tells us that if we have problems that we can change our actions and change things that we do to fix it, rather than becoming a victim. Now obviously, there are some conditions where you can't just change something and it will be fixed. So for problems such as these, I think that medication is useful. But unlike Watson's version of behaviorism, I think that cognitive psychology is an important part of behaviorism because I think that internal mental processes are a part of behaviorism and that changing these internal mental processes are the most important thing to focus on if you want to change your actions. I will stop there, but in short, these comprise my personal theory of psychology and I disagree with all the theories that take away our personal freedom to change and our responsibility for our own problems (we need to understand we have responsibility for our problems in order to change them). This is just the beginning on my theory, but because I want to save you all from boredom, you just get the simplified version.

3. That authoritative parenting is the best. Richard and I have vowed to not be permissive or authoritarian in our parenting styles. I know easier said then done, but at least we have the tools and tips on how to be good parents.

4. Studying the senses at the molecular level is absolutely amazing. Even though that class was one of the hardest at the school (sensation and perception) and was basically a graduate level course, it was definitely my favorite class. I think I am going to pull some strings and take the class that I want to take more than any other with Richard during winter semester: behavior neurobiology. O man. I can't wait. (::nerd alert::)

5. If I could go back to school and had to study Psychology, I would get my graduate degree in neurobiology or the physical side of psychology. The therapy side is just not for me. I don't agree with the majority of it.

6. I think that sociological is fun and really interesting, but it's hard when you learn about the not so good parts of society

7. Ratemyprofessor.com is awesome. We were able to stay away from the crazy and mean teachers and had pretty much all awesome teachers

8. I am one of those weird ones who like to write papers. Opinion, research...any kind. I really should have been an english major. O well.

9. I finished with a 3.8 GPA which makes a perfectionist like me happy

10. All in all I really enjoyed a major in Psychology. Even after the fuss I gave after wondering if it was the right degree for me (usually because it is not very practical). But I learned some really interesting things and I think it will help me a lot as a mother! And disagreeing with parts of it is not wrong! That just means I actually thought about it and critically thought about it rather than just accepting everything my professors taught me as truth. I LOVED taking classes with Richard because we always had such fun discussions about what we learned our classes! :)

....

There are so many other random thoughts, but let's just say that I have enjoyed the opportunity to be in school. It's crazy that that part of my life is finished. I am not done with my education because my goal is to get a masters, but that won't be until Richard is at graduate school (at least) and most likely until after our kids leave the house.

Finally, for the first time in the almost 3 1/2 years we have been married I am a full-time homemaker. I LOVE it, but because I am the person I am, I have been probably just as busy as I was in school.

I took on the project to do the most intense spring cleaning. Almost every single surface of our apartment has been completely cleaned. It took me all week but it is so worth it because I love knowing my house is as clean as it ever could be. These apartments are older, so I felt justified in cleaning almost every surface because I am sure the people before us (who had 3 children) did not have time to clean very much. I wanted to start out my "career" as a housewife with a very clean house. It has not been easy though. But I don't think this apartment has ever been more clean.

So now begins my adventure as a little Mormon homemaker unless something comes along.
(like a job, but in this economy and especially in this college town I am not expecting that...)

But for now, I love it.