Milestones.

10 years ago today I went back to school at BYU-Idaho through their online program to finally work towards finishing my Bachelor’s degree. That had been on my bucket list for years and years and years, but it had never been the right season in life.

But…over the span of a few days in August 2009, I got a prompting. A very strong prompting that I needed to jump off the proverbial cliff and go back to school. Now.

To be honest, this prompting was totally perplexing, scary, and stress-inducing since as far as seasons in life go, that was NOT the season I thought I’d add “go back to school” to my already overflowing plate.

But I chose to follow that prompting, and I applied to BYUI. I was quickly approved,  and when the semester started on September 10, 2009, I was among the new students at BYUI.

The really cool thing was that Kamala also started her first day of college at BYUI on September 10, 2009! We were going to experience college life together even though we were “attending” school from different states. Over the years of being college students together, we even took some of the same classes and passed on books between each other.

Who can say that about their daughter? Probably not very many.

We even got to study together in the library one afternoon when I was in Idaho visiting my parents. That was so fun! And she thought it was pretty cool that she got to study in the library with her mom, and I thought it was beyond awesome that she thought it was pretty cool. 😉

And as it happened, not only did we start our experience at BYUI together, but, along with Zach and Angela, we graduated on the same day! All four of us! Another thing I loved about graduation day? While the four of us were getting ready to walk into the I-Center for the graduation ceremony, as we walked through the lineup of teachers who were there to congratulate their students, when we got to Kam’s teachers, she kept saying, “This is my mom!” “This is my mom!”

My heart melted every. single. time.

And while those 4 years (I went part-time because…life) were tough and stressful at times (John and I had a joke about the 3-weeks-into-the-semester-meltdown I had EVERY semester!), it was totally worth it. Totally. I learned so much, and my degree was the jumping point into the job I’ve had the past 6 1/2 years. If I hadn’t followed that prompting, my life would’ve been totally different, and I wouldn’t be having the experiences I’m having now, doing the work I’m doing now, making the work friends I have now, and so, so much more.

I’m so beyond grateful I followed that prompting a little over 10 years ago.

And a couple of huge takeaways from this experience that I try to remember when I’m thinking about putting off beginning something because life’s just too busy or for whatever reason that’s in my head AFTER I’ve had that prompting to take that leap?

#1. If not now, when?

In my almost 53 years of living on this earth, life does NOT get less busy. It just has different types of busy: early marriage trying to get through school busy, young kids busy, middle school and high school kids busy, empty nester busy (yes, I’m just as busy now as I was then), and so on. And even though these are the best kinds of busy, and I wouldn’t trade any part of these seasons of life for anything, they’re still busy.

#2. The time will go by anyway.

Whether I start working towards a goal now or in 1 month or in 1 year or in 10 years, the time will go by anyway. So why wait? Why waste the blessings and growth I can experience from starting NOW? Why live with the potential regrets of not finishing something my heart wants me to do?

Just take one small, tiny baby step towards that goal, and do it now. Don’t get overwhelmed by the journey ahead. Just take that one step, no matter how small it may be.

Do it now.

Do the thing now.

Today.

And then take another small, tiny baby step tomorrow.

Before you know it, you’ll be marching in your own “graduation” ceremony for that goal!

What one step will you take today? Leave it in the comments below!