Degree

The amount, level, or extent to which something happens or is present. Yes, I know there are other definitions and the word is used differently, but this is the definition I want to highlight. This is an official definition of the word degree.

There is something called a degree of freedom in math: "The number of independent pieces of information used to estimate a parameter." I know many of you reading this are not math people, so let me simplify it. Essentially, it means that a person has certain "freedoms" or "choices" they can infer when looking at a data set. But there is always a constraint or constant. No matter what, there is a limit on the freedom the statistician has.

I think many of you know where this blog is heading. Just over a week ago, I graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Yes, I obtained my college DEGREE.

It took me 8,320 days to reach that moment. That’s a lot of time and effort all building to that day—well, kind of. I had kindergarten graduation, 8th-grade graduation, and high school graduation too. In each of those moments, I obtained a new level or title, whether that was a 2nd grader or a junior in college. And with each came more responsibility.

High school graduation gave me the choice of more school or work. Where was I going to school? What was I going to study? Who was I going to live with? Was I going to play a sport? At the time, I had more questions than answers. But I was told at 18 that I needed to have it all figured out—that I had to know what the next 40 years of my life looked like. WRONG. I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I remember the amount—or degree—of confidence I had on my first day of college. I’d say it was slightly below average. The week before, I was 18 years old with everything "figured out" in Carey. Now I was 40 minutes down the road with 200 complete strangers, trying to figure it all out again.

Luckily, I met some great people early on in my journey who became some of my best friends. I never had to make new friends at home because I’d known mine since kindergarten. The extent I went out of my way to talk to people was extremely low in secondary school—but that had to change, and it did.

The story of how I met a few of my friends is quite amusing. If you're curious, I'd be happy to share. Let’s just say it involved some knuckles, a broken ankle, and a bowl.

Now that I’ve graduated college with a DEGREE, I’m beginning an entirely new journey. I’m writing this from my apartment in Columbus—one I chose, in a city I wanted to live in, working a job I decided to take.

Each step we take, each milestone we pass, we gain a few more degrees of freedom to take control of our lives—unlocking new challenges and journeys we get to shape for ourselves.

This time, for me, there’s no checkpoint. No DEGREE to chase. Just a wide world of uncertainty ahead of me. It’s daunting, to say the least.

I have all of these degrees of freedom—but the one constant, the one constraint I gladly embrace, is the Lord. God will not abandon me or anyone. I will always have a friend, guide, and mentor in Him.

I pray that all of you reading this keep Him constant in your journey as well.

enjoy this picture of me and the boys from graduation