Challenges in my thirties are far greater then my twenties.

The challenges of being a learner at your age:

The challenges of learning at my age are maintaining my life with family, friends, work, and school in a manner that is satisfying to me and beneficial to my family. I work well and accomplish a lot when I am busy because I am an organizer and the feelings of accomplishment make me a happier person, however, I can be somewhat obsessive about things which work against me. At my age I have realized I cannot do everything, as I once thought. I am married and have three young children under the age of 8. I am a believer in family first and everything else second. My first challenge is making sure I am being an involved parent and raising my children to be productive, well mannered, an individual and to be able to face challenges, with confidence. My second challenge is making sure I am meeting my needs and my husband’s needs in our marriage, romantically as a couple and not just mom and dad. My third challenge is maintaining my friendships, because good friendships are hard to find and worth the time and effort. My final challenge is maintaining my graduate studies, which at this point in my life is very important to me and the need for intellectual challenges excites me.

The joys of being a learner at your age:

The joys of being a learner at my age are the experiences I bring to the classroom. I have had a very challenging but exciting life. When I was young I wanted to play but knew how important school was so I went directly to college after I graduated. College was a great experience and would recommend everyone to go, but as far as learning I am not sure I received the education I paid for, not because of the professors but because of my immaturity. I have a lot to learn and a lot more experiences to face but at this point in my life I am mature and intrigued by the world I live in and want to make a difference socially, politically, and intellectually. I am ready to learn and it is an exhilarating feeling when I meet the challenges each week, disconcerting when I do not, but challenging the failure as well. I love academia and want to remain in the classroom and in order to do that I have recognized my desire to teach. I am motivated and challenged weekly which allows me to figure out and explore new information along with applying and relating my past experiences.

Your hopes for the next decade as a learner:

My hopes for the next decade as a learner is to be in the classroom teaching full time and applying all the knowledge I have learned and experienced. I believe we all learn as we go and learn new things every day. I believe the classroom is the same and I will learn from the students as well. I will also be learning from my children as teens, through the challenges of friendships, school work, sports, and puberty. All of these events will allow my children and my husband and I to grow closer and wiser. I have learned a lot being a parent and will continue to grow every year with my family. I have loved every stage of their lives and am looking forward to every new stage.

Your advice for people who are entering your decade as a learner:

Being in your 30’s is very challenging. Some woman are working full time and managing a romantic relationship, some woman are already married and working full time, and some woman are married and giving up their career to stay home with their children and working on personal changes of corporate woman to stay at home mom. Going from full time career woman to stay at home mom is very challenging for woman and causes a lot of cognitive dissonance. What I have learned is to try and be as honest with myself as possible, and make sure the choices I make are mine and not what others “think” you “should” do. With that said I am very active with my girlfriends and continue to play soccer all year round. When people say “if mamma isn’t happy isn’t nobody happy” it is true. I have found throughout the years of multiple friendships that woman need friends. For me staying home and raising my children was very important, but with that decision came a lot of cognitive dissonance for me because I needed and craved intellectual challenges. So after many discussions with my husband I returned to work 1 day a week after all my children were in Kindergarten. I now work 2 days a week, even that gets tricky, because I have the desire to teach. My husband is an airline pilot and he is gone for days at a time and so I become mom/dad for 4 days, which can be a challenge, but it works for me because I like to be in charge sometimes and am an independent individual. I am busy on a regular basis, like most people, as long as it is not at the expense of my children and husband. I am busy because I am invested in my family and their needs along with the investment of my needs. I guess what I am trying to say is women and men need to remember who they are as an individual and what is important to them, and if we are able to understand our limits, and not play into the “supermom” role, we can enjoy our family, work, and friends with satisfaction. The “supermom” is drained, exhausted, and unhappy because she does nothing for herself and everything else is done with partial effort, which causes anxiety and frustration, and then affects everyone around her. I try to live my life where everything is in moderation, sometimes I am successful and sometimes I am not but for me keeping this perspective seem to work more often than not.
Kim Witzig