Life goes on . . .

2020 has been a hell of a year. I remember on New Years Eve all my friends toasting to 2020 and saying that this was their year. They were gonna do everything the always wanted to do, travel, find a new job, be better versions of who they already were but Covid had other plans. Many of my friends have found new job but not because they had intended to but because they had to, to survive. Many of us have decided to go back to school because we wanted to try to find a pandemic proof career field. I have been very lucky because even during all of this I have made some positive changes for my future and my family's future. I am at the end of my first semester back in school and I'm not going to sugarcoat it this semester has been really hard for me. This year had made me really aware of my mental health and the toll its taken on me during this pandemic. I've also learned to become more vocal when I am feeling stressed and I am learning how to calm my anxiety when I do begin to feel overwhelmed. Taking things one day at a time and one task a time has really helped me stay focused. Although, my grades aren't exactly terrible I didn't do as well as I had hope for my first semester back and the old Bridget would have been devastated with not getting all A's but knowing I did my absolute best I could given the circumstances I am really proud of myself. I pushed myself hard this semester and now at least I know what to look forward to so that I can better manage my time in my upcoming paralegal classes. I didn't realize how heavy the workload for our IS 101 class was going to entail but I do feel that I have done my best and pushed myself to complete MOS Word and MOS Excel and I am so happy I was able to do those. It has also been a pleasure getting to know all of you this semester. I know that each and every one of you is going to go on and do amazing things. You have all inspired me to in some way and I will always be grateful for that. This year has been hell so lets make next year one hell of a year!! Here is to us completing the semester and here is to continuing our education.  

Doing a happy dance . . .

This past week felt like it went by very slowly but I think it was because I was feeling very nervous about my upcoming MOS certification exams. I felt really confident about MOS Excel because we had just finished all the coursework for it and it was still fresh in my mind. The MOS Word I was very worried about because it seems like the beginning of the semester was so far away by now. I did all the GMetrix and worked my butt off studying and practicing things in Excel and Word and trying to sleep on Friday night was very hard. I felt so excited and nervous for the upcoming exams on Saturday and Sunday but I mostly felt confident that I would pass. Well, Saturday was finally here and I took my MOS Excel certification exam and as I went through all the tasks I didn't even think about the time I just did what had to do to get it done on time. Finally, the submit your exam button came up and I hit submit to generate my score and there it was 828. I passed!!!! I started to dance and wave my arms up and down. I was so excited. I even started to cry because I was so excited and finally all my hard work had paid off. My husband was so happy for me and even Penelope even though she really had no idea what I was talking about and she suggested we all have some ice cream to celebrate but I still had to attend my IS 101 class and my MOS Word certification exam to take the next day so the celebrations would have to wait. Sunday morning I woke up early to give myself enough time to eat breakfast and get mentally prepared for MOS Word. Although I was still on a high from passing my Excel certification I knew that this one would be a little bit more difficult for me. After having a little bit of trouble logging into WebEx which made me feel very nervous that I wouldn't have time to finish my exam or worse not be able to take it, I was finally able to get in and get my exam started. I went through all the problems as thoroughly and as quickly as possible. I felt like I was taking forever on each task and I also felt like is this exam ever going to finish? Finally, the submit your exam button came up again and I hit submit. I also felt like it took forever to receive my score for this one but finally it was graded and my score was generated 863. I passed!!!! I started to do my happy dance again but quickly stopped because there were other students taking their exams and I didn't want to distract them. I am beyond proud of myself for pushing myself to take these certification exams and for passing them both. Now I hope to tackle MOS PowerPoint before the semester is over along with all of my classmates. I know that we can all achieve that coveted trifecta!