The End of a Chapter: Graduating from Tacoma Community College
This might end up being a long blog post, so bear with me. Where do I start? Well, I graduated from Tacoma Community College ( Official ceremony/graduation will be in June). Friday marked the official end of the winter quarter. I took my final exams on Wednesday evening, while the final project was edited with the finishing touches and sent in on Saturday, allowing for final grades to be completed today.
It’s a bittersweet feeling. As I mentioned in another post titled “Closing a Chapter: My Last Days at TCC and the Milestone That Matters,” I picked the TCC diploma frame with black and royal blue and an academic touch, which came out to $77.14.
It marks the end of what has been a long yet short journey filled with what seemed like never-ending assignments, adjustments, conflicts, growing pains, and devastating factors, such as the death of my mentor, she was a dear family friend, and another death, this time of a neighbor I actually enjoyed being around. Her name was Raja. She kept to herself and didn’t cause trouble outside her own struggles.
When reality sets in, it is most hard to accept the absence of my mentor, but nevertheless, here I am writing this with the end in mind as I embrace the next chapter: becoming a Husky at UW Tacoma.
UW Tacoma Orientation: A New Beginning
On Thursday, I toured the campus for spring orientation. I met some new people, chatted with another TCC student who was part of my group for the research class, and surprised my kid with some free Jimmy John’s, courtesy of the university, which was kind enough to pass out free lunch vouchers for nearby restaurants.
The choices included pho, a pizza slice with a drink, a sandwich, chips, and drink, and a couple of other options. Knowing how good my kid has been about helping us save money on eating out, I took this opportunity to surprise him with his favorite sandwich. This meant sneaking away from the campus for lunch and rushing back in time for the resource fair. Luckily, I live down the block, so it only took 20 minutes at best.
At the end of the orientation, we participated in a tradition where we walked out of the event to cheers, clapping, and music celebrating our admission to the university.
We were handed a challenge coin, something I had been looking forward to ever since I learned about it. Usually, at the end of the year, it is a tradition to hand the coin to someone who played a big role in your journey.
However, for me, I am giving it to myself. It was me who had to believe that I could get here. If I had been given two, one would stay firmly on my desk where I could see it (where the coin is actually sitting now), and the other would have been given to my mentor.
Access to the Finance Lab and Exciting Opportunities
That was a fun event, and I was able to once again roam on my own and explore the business building, Milgard, to be specific. I rode the elevator up to the third floor and took a look at their finance lab, where Bloomberg terminals line the wall, and an LED ticker runs across the top, just like a trading floor on Wall Street.
The cherry on top? Any student, regardless of major, is free to use this space. I am beyond excited about this, including the opportunity to join the finance club if I am able to.
Recognizing High-Functioning Depression
Something I also came to realize from this entire week is just how depressed I have been now that the dust has settled and I am free to my own devices, free to think and sit with myself.
Oftentimes, when we think of someone being depressed, we picture them unable to get out of bed, take care of themselves, or maintain hygiene. However, what’s not talked about enough, if at all, is high-functioning depression, where you still do all those things but are merely going through the motions, surviving.
It didn’t hit me that I was going through this until I was able to stop and acknowledge why going to the gym seemed harder than usual, why I kept searching for comfort in grocery shopping for junk food, and why my weight gain caught me off guard even though, deep down, I knew my habits were out of alignment with who I am and what matters most to me, my physical fitness.
The Impact on Health and Fitness
Other areas of my life also fell out of alignment. Health problems that I once got rid of started creeping back, and yet I couldn’t shake myself out of it. I knew that losing my mentor was part of it, but it was also the class I was taking, which was harder than it needed to be due to miscommunication with some teammates and how the project was being handled. It wasn’t the class itself that was difficult, it was everything surrounding it. On top of that, everything happening on a broader scale politically made this quarter tougher for many students.
I haven’t been consistent in the gym since December, and I have only gone back a handful of times since January, not once this month, even though I have paid $50. If you know me, this isn’t like me. I don’t waste or throw away money like that, especially when I could have used that amount to buy two shares of Kenvue for less than $25 each for my investment fund.
Moving Forward: Acknowledging and Overcoming
So this weekend has been about acknowledging that I have been functioning with depression and taking steps to get back to myself, to find joy in life again and not just fall into the trap of survival.
During this time, while school was in session, I also added over 100 articles to be scheduled here while publishing 81 articles so far this year alone, hitting the 200,000-word mark on this blog as of today. Perhaps I had been numbing myself with tasks that needed to be done. Even though I have allowed myself to feel some emotions from this time period in my life, I still feel there is residue left over from having to quickly gather myself and move on to the next thing that demanded my attention.
It makes sense that last night, for the first time, I felt like I had been carrying a whole load of bricks on my shoulders, and my body was begging to release it.
Celebrating the Milestone
With all of that in mind, Today, I went to the grocery store, bought what was needed, and even got some mini cupcakes to celebrate this moment.
It finally hit me last night, I did it. I accomplished something that, at one point in my life, didn’t seem possible.
I remember being scared on the first day as a non-traditional student returning once more after some time had passed, not knowing what to expect, and now here I am, a college graduate with an AA specialized in psychology, heading to university for my bachelor’s degree.
Looking Ahead: The Next Steps
I came home and gave myself permission to just stay home and do nothing, which eventually led me to write this post. Even though I am writing, it still feels like “doing nothing” because it isn’t scheduled or demanding my attention, it’s simply a reflection that I can share and look back on a year from now.
Perhaps tomorrow I’ll go to the gym and start a new routine that is sustainable, or maybe I’ll go on Wednesday. I’m not too worried about when this week, as I know myself, the urge to return is getting stronger, and the heaviness behind the idea of going is getting weaker.
With that said, this has been my update. As I mentioned in my previous personal post, the next time you’d hear from me was when I was walking the halls of UW Tacoma, and that, I did.
The Broke College Student 
Leave a comment