A new chapter of my life is about to begin.

I’ll be attending a local university to pursue an M.A. in English with a writing concentration. I hope to use this degree to bolster my career.

This is something I’ve thought about doing for a long time. When I graduated college, I believed I could take on the world. My peers advanced in their careers relatively easily, it seemed. I was nervous, for sure, but I was confident I would make quick headway.

Then reality set in.

A few ill-fitting jobs and one bad economy later, and I found myself a struggling artist at a day job I didn’t much care for. It was like that for a long time. Yes, I did keep writing. I wrote many things. It’s my passion, and unlike what Mike Rowe says, I’m good at it. I’m a dreamer by nature. It’s who I am. If writers took his advice, they’d quit submitting stories after two or three rejections. Trust me, I know, because I’ve been in that boat (and it felt like the Titanic).

Someone suggested a few years ago I go to grad school. I wasn’t sure I could do it. I’d grown to hate debt, so I refused to take out more student loans. But after a little investigating, I learned I could become a teaching assistant to pay for it, so that became my goal. I took a class over a summer to make it happen. Unfortunately, there was either a lot of competition for a TA position or no openings. So, I waited.

Now the time seems to be right. If all goes as planned, I start in the fall. I plan to move to avoid driving up to two hours both ways to the university.

This is just one of several major changes I’m making. Honestly, it’s overwhelming. I haven’t liked my current situation, but I got used to it. “Better the devil you know,” as the old saying goes. It was my “normal,” even if I hated it. Now I’m making a paradigm shift so huge, it feels more like a paradigm earthquake.

I’ve realized, however, that (besides God and the fact that everything freezes) the only constant in the universe is change. We may fight against it, but it will come. Personally, I’d rather make the changes myself. Even that is risky, though. The outcome is rarely certain. I’m reminded of a Bible passage in James 4:13-15: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” Even if you aren’t a Christian, I think you can see the wisdom in this. It’s never good to assume an outcome because it’s uncertain. “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men,” wrote Robert Burns, “Gang aft a-gley.”

Perhaps it’s providential that I’m writing a second nerd/geek devotional with Eric Anderson, and its central theme is change.

Fear not, True Believers. I’ll still be writing. I can’t very well give that up.

What are some significant changes you’ve navigated? How did you do it?

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