Lots of transitions and changes have happened for me over the past few months, and while almost all of them have been so good, God is still teaching me how to healthily process change rather than to simply go through the motions.
First, on May 12th, I successfully graduated from North Dakota State University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in psychology and a minor in neuroscience two years early! I am still so grateful for all the opportunities, friends, life-lessons, and education I was blessed with by attending NDSU for the past two years.
Second, I recently moved out of university housing and into an apartment with some close friends for the summer. Currently we live in an apartment, but in July we will be moving into a town home, and then at the end of August I will be moving home to Wisconsin just before I launch for the Race in early September. By the end of the summer I will have moved a total of 13 times in my life, and I can’t wait to keep up the trend overseas!
Third, I have transitioned out of being a full-time student, and into a full-time job. This summer I will continue to work at the bakery I have worked at for most of my time in Fargo until the end of August/early September.
Adjusting to a new schedule and routine of life has been a lot more difficult than I thought it would. Primarily, I’m not sure what to do with all my extra time now that I don’t have to spend it working on homework. It’s great to have a change of pace, but it’s also been a challenge. At first it was pretty easy for me to come home from work, go to the gym, make dinner, watch some Netflix, read, and then hit repeat for the next day, but I got bored and restless pretty quickly.
It’s also been difficult not having my closest friends around this summer, as almost all of them have either moved home or elsewhere to work for the summer.
I like to be productive with my time, and that can take a lot of different forms, but since school is no longer one of them, I’ve been challenged to find other opportunities in my community, for both deeper friendships, and a way to impact the lives of those around me. I’m still not sure what that looks like for the summer; part of it will be preparing myself mentally, physically, and spiritually for training camp in July and launch in September, but I’ve asked God to help me invest in the time that I have left in Fargo, and to not simply wait the weeks away until the Race begins.
While I’m still transitioning and adjusting, some things have remained the same– I still attend church and Chi Alpha (the campus ministry I’ve been a part of during my time at NDSU) once a week, and will still be finding new ways to raise support, which, by the way, I am over 50% funded!!
A HUGE thank you goes out to all of my supporters! Without your donations I literally would not be writing this or be forced to rely on God as much as I currently am.
I wish I could say that even without the prospect of the Race I would be just as dependent on God, but I really don’t think that I can. I guess there’s something about having over $16k on the line that really puts prayer and the Lord’s provision into perspective.
Overall, the first few weeks of this summer have been more challenging than I expected, and as training camp and launch draw closer I’m sure I will continue to be challenged, but I know that He who has started a good work in me will see it to completion.
Thank you again, and again, and forever, to all my supporters, and to everyone who reads the things I write.
