Improvise, Adapt and Overcome
Growing up my career aspirations focused around two themes: helping and teaching. At first, I wanted to be a nurse like my grandmother. When I was old enough, I joined the volunteer corps at the hospital as a candy striper. We had adorable aprons and the patients loved us. I learned a lot about kindness, suffering, and that I was not meant to be a nurse. In high school, I took the ASVAB to test my “strengths and potential for success in military training” and scored high. Military recruiters promised cool jobs with a large enlistment bonus. With my background in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and flag corp, I was already good at marching and being part of a larger mission. My job as a waitress at the International House of Pancakes was definitely not a long-term plan, so I spent the summer of 2001 preparing to leave everyone and everything I knew. That November, I departed Georgia to complete Basic Training and Technical School in the United States Air Force.
Two weeks before graduation, I jumped off a wall during training and felt ribbons of pain cutting through my shins. The pain was nearly unbearable but quitting was not an option so I persisted. After a few days of marching and running in combat boots, I finally asked for permission to seek medical help. We were 3 days from our final fitness test and my Drill Instructor was skeptical that anything was wrong. The medical personnel, also jaded from years of whiny recruits, gave me a handful of Vitamin M (Motrin) and a waiver to wear tennis shoes for 3 days. Turns out, standing in formation wearing white tennis shoes when everyone else is wearing shiny black boots, drill instructors notice — repeatedly. For three days, I took the prescribed medicine, withstood the increased attention from DIs (extra running and extra pushups), and the pain persisted. On the day of our fitness test, my choices were clear — complete the test or try again in 2 weeks. Failure was not an option so I pushed through.
My injuries never fully healed and the military needs young adults in prime condition. Although I worked behind a computer or podium, rules are rules and I couldn’t run. So at the tender age of 19, I was adrift again. No money, no home, no support network, no path forward. Moving back to the town I had been desperate to leave was demoralizing. Jobs and opportunities were scarce. It took a while but eventually, I was living the dream. Married with two kids — a good job in Atlanta and a few extra dollars each month. My husband was able to quit his job as a security guard to attend nursing full-time and I became the sole provider. Circumstances did not line up with our plans. Gas prices crept higher and higher. Daycare increased every few months. Planned bonuses and raises dried up as the financial impact of the 2008 crisis rippled through the economy. Each month our savings account grew smaller until it was overdrawn. I quit my job to attend school full time, relying on part-time jobs, student loans, and scholarships to pay our bills. Those were lean, difficult years but we got through them by having a growth mindset. Being able to improvise, adapt, and overcome adversities always leads to great things.
