At the encouragement of not one but two new acquaintances met while “vacationing” (ha ha, we’ll get to why that’s funny in a moment) in Death Valley, California, I am taking a break from my mba studies and writing this post.

Pretty Views in Death Valley & My MBA Studies Finish Line – Where is the Balance?

They thought it fascinating that I, a chaperone on my 8th graders class trip to Death Valley, am in fact a dedicated enough student that I will post up on the porch of the Furnace Creek General Store with my laptop (and Samsung Galaxy Note plugged into it for maximum device charging on the one DC plug that’s available for my usage) and study late hours into the night to meet the requirements of my classes.

I’m sitting cross legged with my laptop perched on the side of my foot on a stone cold floor next to the wall reading and typing and thinking and trying to hold on.

You don’t even want to hear about the 10 hour drive down to Death Valley and my moment of desperation charging my laptop in the ladies room of the Flyers gas station off CA-99 S. We stopped there so I could upload a PDF version of my text book to my phone so I could get some reading done on the trip down.

I’m at Negotiating with Myself

Honestly, I don’t know if its fascinating or outright crazy, but with 2 months to go there are two things I promised myself:

1. To not question my sanity until after I graduate
2. To drink as much coffee as much as my little heart desires, day or night.

The truth is, my professor’s likely don’t care all that much if I’m sitting on the moon. They warned us during orientation to “kiss our lives good-bye” for the next 2 years of mba studies. And my colleagues (all 32 of the others in my cohort) likely are going through their own flavor of the struggle to hold on — “through thick and thin” and finish out UH’s dlE-MBA program strong (OK maybe not strong) themselves.

Sometimes to Find Balance, We Must Juggle

So the point here isn’t to argue that I deserve any special treatment, favors, pity or sympathy. Merely, to record this experience of being at the base of a large challenge and seeking to overcome it through the power of perseverance. Must not stop, must not give up, must be OK with the seemingly endless juggling of my life.

Juggling others expectations, opinions, desires and frustrations with me. I have never felt more limited, never felt I had to let so many down to simply not let myself down. Maybe “juggling” is the wrong word. Maybe “mba studies fire dancing” would be a more accurate term.

On a positive note, it’s a 10-year “super bloom” of wildflowers in Death Valley, and the scenery is fantastic. Read about the super bloom here. And my son is pretty happy I’m here to go rock climbing the canyons with him.

Thanks for reading and if this didn’t scare you out of attending graduate business school, maybe you’re ready for the experience. Or maybe you’re just crazy.

‘Til next time ~ A hui ho