--- layout: post title: "Keeping In" date: 2015-09-22 comments: true --- It's been a long 3 months since I've updated on all this education stuff. When I wrote the post, I had reached my low point and I wasn't sure where I was headed afterwards. **But now, I'm back.** When I wrote that blog post, I had dropped out of the online school I had chosen and made a small effort towards getting my GED. It wasn't working so I just started playing by ear and seeing where life takes me. I was going to counseling appointments bi-weekly and eventually seeing a psychiatrist to give me the final verdict on my depression. Turns out, I did enter a depression (which I'm still in process of fixing). The medicine is helping so I just kept playing by ear, since the school year was over and I didn't really have much to do. The GED wasn't something I wanted and was a last resort thing (if that wasn't apparent). The appointments were starting to get a little bit annoying. It's different when it's a routine, but when it's every other week it starts to get a bit repetitive. My insurance only covered so many appointments and I ended up having to spend these next 4 months with only 2 appointments. It's partially a good and bad thing. Good as in, I'm on my way to healing and the medicine is helping to where the appointments aren't necessary. I don't think I'm done yet with the medication, as my mood has a definite change when I fail to take them on a day. It's bad in the sense that if I was to ever slip back, I'd be screwed. There wouldn't be much I could do and I'd just have to survive. The plus side is that me slipping back seems slim now. A short time after I had my appointments spread across the months, I received a phone call from an online school that I applied to back in January when I had signed up for the other one. The benefits of this online school being: 1. It's in my area. 2. I go to an actual school, despite all of it being online. 3. Partially oriented around people like myself. They inquired about me wanting to join, and I said yes. It was the only good thing I had going for me and I took it. Since it couldn't get much worse than nothing. So, skip a few months later (because I didn't start until September). I go to school, and it is pretty direct and simple. They give you classes oriented around you (in addition to keeping state requirements) and making school less of a nuisance (I haven't received a piece of homework). I started school on September 15th (last week) and I was on my way. They start everyone with a math strategies elective class just to bring people up to speed on basic math and pre-algebra concepts. I finished the class today (September 22nd). I spent less than a real full school week (since we don't get Fridays and the school year starts on Tuesday). Granted, there was stuff that I had to learn, but I had about 30-40% of the work like the back of my hand, and I was able to finish the rest quickly once I was taught. I'm also the first one to finish a class in this school year. I think I'm starting to get to the top, like I should've been. I'm also at the point where I'm looking at the present and very near future and I'm not looking back on the past. **That's over.** Hell, if I finish classes within weeks, I'd be out sooner before my normal time. So, my friends and family, including the strangers on the internet (who supported me regardless with no doubt), **thank you**. If it wasn't for the support I had received, I'm not sure why I'd bother trying for my education. So (1000 * "thank you") to each and everyone of you to motivated me to get to where I needed to be, **Thank you.**