Have you gone back to school as an adult? Do you think that the first day jitters are worse than when you were young?
Last winter I took a class at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. On my first day, I was nervously digging out coins for the parking meter when a skateboarder came rolling towards me. “It’s free parking on Saturdays, you know,” he said. “Really? That’s not what the sign says,” I responded. He was already halfway down the block and over his shoulder he hollered, “Guess you’ll have to follow your heart.”
I laughed, put my coins away, and hurried into the building.
My class was on Photoshop and a lot of the other students were adults like me. The instructor told us that despite the signage, street parking was free on our block. The girl sitting next to me wore a fake fur peacoat in electric blue. I told her about the skater dude's advice. She smiled. On break, we got coffee together. It was a great first day.
The next Saturday, I knew better than to pull out my coin purse. As I strode confidently across the plaza, I slipped on a patch of ice and landed fully flat on my back staring at the winter sky. I wondered if I was alive. “Get up, Mithra. Remember you’re following your heart.”
This fall, I registered for classes again, only I'm taking them online. I've purchased a one-month subscription to Skillshare for $10. There are hundreds of classes in many different categories. Seth Godin's class, The Modern Marketing Workshop, is one of the most popular.
As much as I love the communal environment of a school, I also love the cozy comfort of a pleasant work environment, which is what my home has become. The photo above is a corner in the basement that once housed a drum kit, a vestige of my own skater dude. I'll peck away at the laptop and if I'm lucky, I'll meet a virtual pal in a fake fur peacoat who will make it less lonesome.
Wanna be my pal in a fake fur peacoat? Subscribe below and we can hang every Friday morning.