June is one of my favorite months of the year. Weather wise, it is the most stable summer month here in Ohio. It’s a great time to take advantage of summer activities: hiking, camping, making s’mores, and getting ice cream from mom and pop ice cream shops. By now, most of my friends have returned home for the summer and my schedule gets pleasantly busy. Even so, there is a sense of relaxation that follows me throughout the month, which I try my best to embrace.

It is also a nice part of the year to stop and reflect, since we are now halfway through the year. For me, the past six months of my life have been a complete roller coaster. I’ve experienced the loss of a few family members and friends. My family members have been pushing through major health issues. I’ve accepted, rejected, and changed jobs. I experienced the sunshine and wonder of Arizona, while suffering through some miserable weather here in Ohio. It has been interesting to say the least.

All of these experiences had a profound impact on me. Six months ago, I never thought I would be satisfied with a job again. Being an adjunct after two years of grad school ran me further into the ground. Then, I was faced with the very real possibility of having little to no work for months. It was terrifying. Even though I knew that we had the capabilities to survive it, I was so stressed about working that I was putting in 20+ applications a week. In the first two months of this madness, I only had one interview for a position I wasn’t offered. It was really discouraging.

Then, when things started looking up, everything went in a downwards direction. In March, I had three interviews, all of which led me to job offers. But then my personal hardships happened, and I turned two of them down. The final one, my current position with the parks district, came at just the right time. I was starting to move on from the sadness and stress of the month, but I still had to wait for the position to actually begin at the very end of April. Unfortunately, that month didn’t go by smoothly, as we experienced more loss. We also endured the worst camping experience of our entire life, which sharply jabbed at our hopes of ever backpacking successfully. All in all, those four months really sucked.

Thankfully, the universe decided that I would get a break from everything. I started my new job just before we went on vacation. The 9 days in Arizona were fantastic. I got to be back in the desert, saw some new places, and got to rock out at the Ghost concert. When we came back, I returned to work and have loved the vast majority of the days I’ve worked. Now that we are into June, I just completed my first summer camp and am preparing for two more this month. It was a lot of fun to teach the kids about wildlife. It was fun to teach in a relaxed setting where I wasn’t obsessing over course requirements and state learning outcomes. My only goal is to ignite their ability to discover and hope they come to learn to love nature as much as we do. On that front, I’m looking forward to the next six weeks.

As a person, I’ve experienced a lot of growth in these six months. After years of fighting with it, I finally have my anxiety under control (this was not easy as I resisted a lot). I’ve gotten to a point where I can go out of my comfort zone to do things. For example, I attended my first in person book club and really enjoyed it. I’ve finally come to accept that life isn’t always going to go how you plan and you can’t micromanage everything along the way. More importantly, I learned that if you veer off in a completely different direction, that is okay too. Outside of this blog, I honestly can’t say that I’m putting my degrees to work, but I’m okay with this! My new experiences have been quite rewarding so far, and I hope for more in the future.

If the past six months have gone well for you, bravo! I’m happy for you and all of the moments that made it great. If you’re feeling stuck, or if the past six months have beat you up too, I’m sorry for that. I want to remind you that you still have six more months ahead of you. Find whatever makes you happy and just do it; whatever you need to feel better. It just takes that first step towards whatever that is for you, and no matter how big or small, I know you can take that first step.