I came out of high school feeling unsure of what I truly wanted to do- I knew that I was decent at personal selling, and enthusiastic about, well, enthusiasm. As a rather emotionally large person, I tend to love and feel big when it comes to the things I experience and enjoy, and I knew I loved describing the things I loved to people (later I found out this was a magical process called “selling things”). I had a scholarship for a private college in Oregon, and before I knew it, I had wound up in a dorm 45 minutes south of Portland, headed for I knew not what.

I became discouraged, though, about the possibility of my being successful over the time it took me to complete just one quarter at my first college. I found myself skipping class, dropping assignments, and worst of all, disconnecting from the people around me. I hid in a shell, and eventually dropped out of my first college experience. I returned home feeling pretty low, having experienced a true defeat for the first time in my life. I didn’t know how I would bounce back- or if I even could.

And yet, after winter break had concluded, I ended up enrolling for some small classes at the local community college in my hometown. I did succeed here, but found myself doubting the reason as to why- community college just has to be easier than private, I thought. And that is sometimes true- but for the most part, I have found professors pretty much everywhere are almost always enthusiastic about teaching their subjects, which means more often than not that courses will be engaging, if not downright difficult. For the most part, though, I ignored this fact, almost certainly determined to believe I was destined to be mediocre.

I got a job sometime later working for the local Fred Meyer, and man did that stink. I was a baker, and it was hard work- oftentimes you were asked to do way too much in way too little of a time, and this was tough on me both physically and mentally, especially when I was continuing with an education at the same time. I found myself wishing that I was able to do something else, something that wasn’t as physically demanding, and found that I was substantially more invested in my classes. Funny how things like that work.

Fast forward to the end of my stint at Fred Meyer- I had been offered a job at gourmet soda store, Chug’s Root Beer, Sodas and More, and took it immediately, having been a loyal customer there for some time. I loved this job- I was enthusiastic about the products, as selling niche sodas because of their unique quality and flavor was interesting, and it showed when a customer came into the store. Many customers described their experience very positively, primarily due to my enthusiasm and knowledge regarding the 400+ variations of soda we carried (I had tried all of them, even the joke flavors like ketchup or dirt). I am very, very good at selling when it is something I love, and I enjoyed this job very much because I loved what I did.

This last experience at the soda store got me to thinking- maybe, just maybe, I am capable of something better. It was hard to envision a world at first where I succeeded after such a massive letdown- my first experience moving away from home, and enrolling in a big-time college was pretty disastrous. But I was emboldened, both my friends and family around me, and by the fact that I was actually still living and breathing several years after such a wild failure. College may be my destination after all, I thought, and I began to make efforts towards getting enrolled at Western. I was accepted shortly thereafter.

Now, two years later, here we are. I have lived in an apartment for the entire time I have stayed in Bellingham- totally responsible for my own self-preservation, and found that I can actually take out the damn trash and cook my own food and clean my own house. This was not something I was totally sure I could do two years prior to my enrolling at Western, and yet here I remain, after having successfully taken part in being a human being in today’s society. I also found that I was not only capable but actually good at school, and while I still am just as prone to the faults of procrastination and otherwise as anyone else, I am much, much better than I was several years ago.

My experience in the Western Washington University marketing department has been both enjoyable and informative, and proof to myself and others that I am now capable of making something better for myself. I found a life I like, that I can commit energy to and enjoy. Learning about topics like I have in Digital Marketing and Integrated Marketing Communications has been a blast, and I have found that I now have skills to make myself useful in a professional context I once thought was out of reach. I have earned certifications for complex platforms like Google Ad/Ad Search, Hubspot, Spotify, learned about relevant topics in today’s marketing field like SEO, PPC, how to optimize websites for conversions, UI/UX design, and many other topics. I learned how to operate in a vertical hierarchy, reporting to superiors and working towards deadlines, creating content and documenting it. I have learned a lot. But the thing I learned above all else, was that I could actually do it.

The types of things that I consider triumphs might be norms to another person, but everyone experiences their own challenges and lives differently. It takes everyone different amounts of time to become their own fully fledged adult, and for me it just took a little longer. But I learned the value of overcoming hardship and struggle, and became better for it, at least in my opinion. That was a hard, depressing, terrible learning experience, but I would not change it today. I needed to learn the lessons I did, and have grown from them and become what I believe to be a capable, independent, and worthwhile person today. I hope to have a positive impact on those around me, whether professionally or otherwise- and to most of all, tell people that they can get back up, that failure is not the end. Sometimes, it’s the beginning of something much, much better.