On Wednesday night I submitted my second set of assignments for Moreland, and it was as nerve wreaking as relieving. Doing course work between being a stay at home more of two girls under 4 years old was not easy. Daytime work is nearly impossible between the house work, cooking, cleaning up, and keeping them entertained. Every time I cracked open my laptop someone needed me, or bombarded me with 500 “what are you doing, mama?” questions. So, I worked every night after bedtime until midnight or 1am. I was and still ma exhausted, but I just keep my eyes on the prize and remind myself: “it’s just for 9 months”.
I totally started out on the wrong foot. Part of the assignment was to research, and I jumped right into that! I started compiling sources and notes which quickly took the form of an academic essay. I felt overwhelmed, to say the least, it’s been quite a few years since college. Then I took a peek at the student examples and…oh. I was way overdoing the information part and not even focusing on having to make a 5-minute informative video!
The vast majority of my headache was a technical learning curve. I was making a video presentation for the first time, then roadblocked by needing a voice-over which the program I was using didn’t provide. Then I realized there was a paywall so I couldn’t download it. I ended up copying and pasting into a different and FREE template that was downloadable, uploading to a voice-over program, then redownloading. It may not be that hard for some, but for me, it was the absolute most frustrating experience I’d had in a long time.
Needless to say, after all was said and done I felt so competent at a new skill. My presentation wasn’t PERFECT, which was hard for me to accept and let go, but after the struggle of even getting to finished enough, I was done. I am actually looking forward to making my next video.
The results? My instructor was very pleased with my work and commented it was really well done. I received an outstanding! All that stress and still feeling it wasn’t that great, and it was just fine if not better.
I learned a lot this module, but the biggest take away was that perseverance pays off. Yes, the nights are long and my caffeine intake has increased tenfold, but just a simple assignment like with positive feedback has boosted my self confidence immensely. I know I have always been a hard worker, and I do so much for my family and kids, it’s just nice to have a total stranger say, wow, great job.
You can check out my submission in my portfolio!