September 10, 2025 • 21 mins
After dropping out of college the first time, I figured higher education just wasn’t for me. Then I joined the Army—and suddenly, there I was, back at it again. Only this time, the motivation was completely different. Providing for my son lit a fire under me. I went from “College? Again?” to “Let’s go. Earn the promotion. Get the paycheck. Buy the diapers.”
Back then, online education carried a heavy stigma, but I made a pact with myself: if I was going to do this, I’d do it all the way. Read every lesson. Watch every lecture. Prove that this path was just as valid as sitting in a classroom.
In this episode, I share how I turned that “second chance” into an opportunity, earning my associate’s and bachelor’s degrees through discipline, focus, and sheer determination. It wasn’t glamorous, but it gave me the confidence I lacked the first time around. And it taught me that while an external motivator can get you started, the real growth and sustainment of that growth comes from within.
✨ Preorder my debut novel The Ordinary Bruja here: haveacupofjohanny.com
📧 Email: joa@haveacupofjohanny.com
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📸 Instagram: @haveacupofjohanny
If today’s episode hit you in the chest the way it hit me, don’t just walk away—walk toward something that reflects you.
Subscribe to the podcast, hit that YouTube channel for the behind-the-scenes, and if you’re ready to read a story about what it really means to come home to yourself—
👉🏽 Preorder The Ordinary Bruja.
https://haveacupofjohanny.com/product/the-ordinary-bruja-book-one-of-las-cerradoras-series-j-e-ortega/
It’s about a Dominican-American bruja who’s been running from herself her whole life until ancestral magic, generational wounds, and a haunted-ass hill force her to face the truth.
If you’ve ever felt “too much,” “not enough,” or like you don’t fit anywhere, you’re exactly who this story was written for.
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Because becoming who you are is the bravest kind of magic.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh we could, we could fly.
Welcome back to have a Cup ofJohnny.
This season isn't abouthustling harder.
It's about coming home toyourself, to your voice, to your
breath, to the quiet truth thatyou're still here and you're
not starting over.
You're starting again.
(00:21):
This is your space to reflect,reset and remember who we tell
you are.
So pour your cafecito and let'sbegin.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hello everyone and welcome back to have a Cup of
Johnny podcast this month.
I am talking about lessonslearned in higher education
because September always feelslike the fresh notebooks and new
beginnings, even for us adults.
Last episode, I shared how Istarted college way too young,
(00:59):
how I wanted out of my housebadly, how I wanted out of my
house badly and how I ended upin a community college not
really ready for any of it andthe season then that ended with
(01:20):
me dropping out because I wasfeeling like I was draining
money and not really gettinganywhere.
So what happened next?
Well, today I am talking to youinto my second round with
higher education, the army years, the online school, and why
sometimes the reason you go backis totally different than the
(01:42):
reason you started.
Are you ready?
Let's go All right.
After dropping out, I knew Icouldn't just go back home and I
dropped out because I hadanother avenue of approach, so I
did it simultaneously.
I made the conscious decisionto drop out because I had
(02:06):
another outlet, another way toget out of the house, and that
was by joining the Army.
The military gave me thedistance structure and the
steady paycheck which Idesperately needed as a young
person at the time, but I'm notgoing to lie I didn't have any
(02:27):
plans of going back to collegeanytime.
Soon after joining I was likeI'm going to take this break and
just going to learn a certainskill and then get out Long and
behold my priorities change onceI became pregnant and had my
(02:50):
son, and then I had to look atlife a whole lot more serious,
because now I had this otherhuman being that was fully
dependent on me, just on me,because I didn't have his father
around.
So then, when things gotserious, I had to look at the
(03:14):
army, which was the environmentthat I was in, the place that I
was in, and started to dissectits rules, its rules for
promotion, for advancement,because I needed the money I
needed now to provide foranother human being, and that's
not something that I'm going tolike bull, jive you on right.
I didn't have this likemotivation to like I want to be
(03:40):
this leader, you know, I want tolike inspire people and all
this other stuff.
No, my motivation was I neededto get more money, because now I
had a kid that completelydepended on me and because of
that we got to look at the moneysituation.
Kids need money to thrive, tosurvive.
(04:02):
So I had a very pragmatic viewof things.
So I was like how can I earnmore money?
By getting promoted?
That was the answer.
Then, how do I get promoted?
That was the next question.
Well, by earning points.
In the enlisted side of thehouse you earn points by doing
(04:23):
certain things going to theboard, taking correspondence
courses, which I was doing evenbefore I became pregnant and
gave birth to my child.
But I didn't have a sense ofurgency before, right when I was
doing those things.
I just knew I wanted to advance, but I wanted to advance at a
slower pace because I was justhaving fun.
(04:43):
But then the sense of urgencykicked in.
Then I was like how can I earnmore points?
Well, you earn more points bygetting a degree.
And that's the thing.
Regardless of whether you're anofficer or an enlisted,
especially if you're an enlistedin certain specialties like my
(05:04):
specialty, an enlisted,especially if you're an enlisted
in certain specialties like myspecialty that have very high
points, where you have to havealmost all of the points, it
requires you to gain a degree.
So you don't even have to be anofficer.
If you're in my specialty,you're going to have a degree,
and that's what ended uphappening.
I knew that I would have to facecollege again Once again, not
(05:28):
like one of those human beingsthat dislike the scholarly life
I am.
I'm a nerd, I'm a geek.
I love reading.
I love listening to a professor, to a teacher, giving me
instructions and then me puttingthose instructions into play
and actioning it.
I've enjoyed that quite a lotmy entire life.
(05:49):
So I knew that I had it in meand I knew that my love of
reading will always help me outin that environment.
However, my maturity level wasthe reason as to why I had to
leave college in the first place.
I wasn't mature enough to befocused and I didn't have the
life skills necessary and youheard me saying that in the
(06:11):
previous episode, and, if not,go to that one and listen to
that one as well but I didn'thave the life skills necessary.
You need basic life skills inorder to thrive away from the
house, even if it's just a fewblocks away from the house, and
I didn't have those.
Particularly, I didn't know howto make a daily schedule and
(06:35):
focus within that daily schedule, so that way I can achieve the
things that I needed to achieveand the things that I wanted to
achieve and instead, becauseI've been constricted for so
long my entire, almost my entirechildhood really, and young
adult years then what happenedwas I didn't know what to have
(06:56):
with all this time and all thatI wanted to do was have fun,
have all the fun I never hadduring those other years.
And there went my focus andthere went me learning how a lot
time for the things that I needto do to thrive in this new
(07:16):
adult life that I found myselfin.
But you know, here comes thearmy, here comes the military
that gives you this certainstructure in a way, pushes on
you, forces you to have aschedule and then, from that
being forced on you, it's almostlike for me I don't know other
people's experience it kind offorced me then to create my own
(07:40):
based off of the example thatthe army had given me.
So, little by little, I waslearning and I was gaining the
knowledge on how to exercisethese life skills, because
through basic training and thenjust being in the army, it's
like the army forces that uponyou.
(08:01):
So you're going to learn oneway or another.
Some people don't ever learnand they end up leaving the
military without learning thoseand I don't know.
I mean they will have to talkabout their experiences on their
own.
As an outside peeking in to me,it just seemed as if they didn't
(08:21):
fully embrace the system andthat rejection just kept them
from being fully in the team,and I'm sure they had their good
reasons as to why that happened.
For me, I embrace most of it.
I do have to say that even tothis day, I'm still very quote
(08:42):
unquote civilian-like, because Imade a choice even back then,
when I was highly immature, tonot lose the parts of my
personality that made me me.
So I kept some of me within me,but I took what I needed and I
(09:02):
learned even more, and then Iended up thriving.
Back to getting points.
I needed points.
I needed to get promoted.
Therefore, I needed college.
So here I was, full circle.
The same girl who had stumbledat a community college was now
(09:24):
looking into going back toschool, but for a completely
different reason.
But for a completely differentreason, not because I felt ready
, but because I needed to getpromoted.
I needed the money to supportmy son and I was essentially
working full-time as an activeduty soldier the only thing
(09:45):
really that I can do because Ididn't want to take away more
time out of my life and takingcare of my son by going to night
classes.
I figured that online schoolwill be the one option that will
work with me and my lifestyle.
Mind you, back then, onlineschool didn't have the respect
(10:08):
that it has now.
School didn't have the respectthat it has now.
People look down at it quite alot.
It's not so bad right now, butback then people were like, what
you know?
If you tell anyone you know,particularly outside of the
military, that you were going toonline school, or even people
within the military,particularly those that went to
(10:29):
brick and mortar schools andthat's how they earned their
degree, it was like, oh, youwent to online school, you know,
you're getting your degree froman online college.
It almost seems like they weresaying you're getting your
degree from a jack in the box orsomething like that.
But I was like, once again, I do.
I was a reader.
You know I am a reader.
(10:50):
I'm a nerd.
I thrive when it comes toreading and dissecting
information in that form.
So I made a pact with myself and, looking back at my life, there
were all these particularmoments where I make these pacts
with myself and then it ends upbeing kind of like
life-changing these, likepivotal moments there and, sure
(11:13):
enough, here.
I made a pact with myself.
I was like I will readeverything that the professor
gives me to read.
I will read all the pamphlets,all the textbooks, all the notes
.
You know, I will take notes andI will be like a sponge to
(11:34):
where, when I get this degreeand people test my knowledge,
they won't know that it camefrom an online college.
That was a pact that I made withmyself.
I knew that I had missed mychance to go to a brick and
mortar school.
I knew that I was in this pointin my life where I needed to
(11:58):
advance in order to earn moremoney so that way I can take
care of my son.
I knew the only way to do thatwas through going to college,
and the only way I could go tocollege was to go online.
So I made this pact with myselfin order to thrive in that
(12:20):
environment as well and make themost out of it.
And it was almost as if I wastrying to correct what I had
done in the past with theresources that I had in my
present time.
So that's what I did noskipping, no shortcuts.
Every reading, every lecture.
(12:40):
I was there at night absorbingit.
You know, I rememberparticularly moments that I was
after work, tired, breastfeedingmy son, and I had a textbook or
a binder, something in front ofme and reading it.
Because now I had thismotivation per se and I had some
(13:02):
skills as well, not as many asI have now, but I had some
skills enough to get me throughthat time in my life.
But I think, most importantly,it was that motivation.
And I tell my son this, and Idon't think he understands how
serious I mean it, but he becamekind of like that beacon, that
(13:25):
motivation that I needed to bethe person that I am today.
And I don't know if that's howit is for other moms or other
parents, but without him I don'tthink I will be where I am
right now.
I was meant to have my son andI truly believe that, and I tell
him that in almost everybirthday card I write.
(13:47):
I don't think he understands,but he is the motivation that I
needed, he is my motivation thatkeeps me going.
And I had that responsibilityand I had this opportunity once
again, just in a different form,and I wasn't about to waste it
(14:10):
not this time around.
So I earned my associates, andit was an associates of whatever
I could, compiled with theclasses I had taken before and
the degree that I hadn'tfinished before because I had
dropped out of college.
So I took that, brought that inand then melded into whatever I
(14:49):
took and I ended up having ajustice administration associate
with that, all completelyonline.
And then came my bachelor's,you know, and I did the same
thing, right, rolled over thatassociate, took a few classes At
this time, something that Ihadn't shared with you was that
I was still stuck on nursingclasses.
I really thought I wanted to bea nurse.
Really, I listened to my momand her counsel to me that this
(15:13):
was something that I wasnaturally good at.
Also, the nurses at thehospital, when they saw me
taking care of my grandma, toldme that.
So those voices right.
And I was young, I was reallyimpressionable.
So it was easy for me to, notknowing myself, to believe
somebody else telling me who Iwas.
So and I listened and I wentwith it.
(15:36):
So, even while going onlineschool, trying to achieve my
bachelor's this time around, Iwas also going for a nursing
degree this time around, butthere was still something in the
back of my mind, you know, thatsaid that this was not for me.
And you know, when you don'tlisten to that like life just
(15:57):
keeps throwing rocks at youuntil you get it.
And that's what essentiallyhappened with this nursing
degree, because it's like I kepthitting a wall time and time
and time again when it comes toit.
First of all, you can't whollyfinish a bachelor's in nursing
completely online.
So I got like three years worthof it, but then it came a time
(16:19):
when I needed to go topracticals.
And guess what?
I couldn't, because now we'redeploying, you know.
And my commander was like no, Ican't let you go, just so you
can finish this degree.
You know, you got to, got todeploy with us, we need you here
and there goes that.
So I was back again going toeducational counselor and the
(16:42):
army base that I was in andasking what can I do with all
these classes that tie tonothing I can do right now,
which was a mixture of justice,administration and a lot of
natural sciences, you know, andnursing classes, and she was
like well, the closest that youcan do is a business degree, I
was like I like money, I want torun my own business, you know,
(17:06):
in the future.
I was like, yes, let's go withthat.
So this amalgamation of justiceadministration classes and
nursing classes after a few morecourses I think I want to say
like I still needed to do likefive or six courses became my
(17:28):
bachelor's degree in businessadministration and I got all the
points right.
Even before I got that degree,I got all the points with
associates.
It wasn't glamorous, it was notglamorous, it was the most ugly
kind of growth you could everimagine.
It was like I was doing the lowcrawl in a cave that was muddy
(18:03):
cave that was muddied.
That's how it looked.
But here's what I learnedSometimes you need an external
motivator to push you back ontothat path and for me it was my
son.
It was my son in realizing Ihave this entire human being now
that is solely depending on me.
So now I need to provide.
How do I provide?
I figured out it was throughmore promotion points and
(18:25):
getting promoted.
And boom, that was the spark.
But what kept me going wasn'tthe army, it wasn't more
promotions, it was me.
Me, it wasn't more promotions,it was me.
It was that discipline that Ibuilt, the focus that I finally
found and the realization that Icould succeed at something even
(18:48):
if I had once failed at it.
And I think that's the lessonhere, the important lesson for
anyone listening the reason yougo back to school or go back to
anything you have once faileddoesn't have to be perfect.
You don't even need a noblereason.
As you can see, I needed moremoney.
(19:10):
It just has to be enough to getyou started, just has to be
enough to get you started.
The rest comes from what youbuild in yourself along the way.
So, vacitos, this is my secondchapter in the story of higher
education.
As you can see, these lessonsare not scholarly tied, but
(19:31):
they're tied to life the armyyears and my comeback through
online school.
The army years and my comebackthrough online school that's all
life.
Next time, I'll share how Itook education even further, no
longer for promotions orpaychecks, but for me.
(19:51):
And speaking of doing things forme, I want to remind you,
listeners, that my novel, theOrdinary Bruja, is officially up
for pre-order.
I'll be releasing it November1st 2025.
This is the book of my heart,y'all.
It's the story I always wantedto read but couldn't find a
story about identity, dominicanmagic, revenge and learning to
(20:15):
embrace who you are.
You can pre-order your copytoday at haveacupofjoanicom.
You know, I'll put the link inthe show notes.
And hey, if today's storyconnected with you, I'd love to
hear from you.
You can email me at joa athaveacupofjoanicom, or hang out
with me on TikTok.
I'm there with two profiles Oneis at A Cup of Joani and the
(20:41):
other one is the book Bruja.
Or you can hang out with me onInstagram at have A Cup of Joani
.
Of course, I will link all ofthat in the show notes for you.
Until next time, remember, thesecond chance might just be the
one that sticks.
You never know.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Bye, more stories, blog posts and the bits that
started it all.
Thank you for being here.
Until next time, be soft, bebold and always have a cup of
John.
Oh we could, we could fly.
Welcome back to have a Cup ofJohnny.
This season isn't abouthustling harder.
It's about coming home toyourself, to your voice, to your
breath, to the quiet truth thatyou're still here and you're
not starting over.
You're starting again.
(00:21):
This is your space to reflect,reset and remember who we tell
you are.
So pour your cafecito and let'sbegin.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hello everyone and welcome back to have a Cup of
Johnny podcast this month.
I am talking about lessonslearned in higher education
because September always feelslike the fresh notebooks and new
beginnings, even for us adults.
Last episode, I shared how Istarted college way too young,
(00:59):
how I wanted out of my housebadly, how I wanted out of my
house badly and how I ended upin a community college not
really ready for any of it andthe season then that ended with
(01:20):
me dropping out because I wasfeeling like I was draining
money and not really gettinganywhere.
So what happened next?
Well, today I am talking to youinto my second round with
higher education, the army years, the online school, and why
sometimes the reason you go backis totally different than the
(01:42):
reason you started.
Are you ready?
Let's go All right.
After dropping out, I knew Icouldn't just go back home and I
dropped out because I hadanother avenue of approach, so I
did it simultaneously.
I made the conscious decisionto drop out because I had
(02:06):
another outlet, another way toget out of the house, and that
was by joining the Army.
The military gave me thedistance structure and the
steady paycheck which Idesperately needed as a young
person at the time, but I'm notgoing to lie I didn't have any
(02:27):
plans of going back to collegeanytime.
Soon after joining I was likeI'm going to take this break and
just going to learn a certainskill and then get out Long and
behold my priorities change onceI became pregnant and had my
(02:50):
son, and then I had to look atlife a whole lot more serious,
because now I had this otherhuman being that was fully
dependent on me, just on me,because I didn't have his father
around.
So then, when things gotserious, I had to look at the
(03:14):
army, which was the environmentthat I was in, the place that I
was in, and started to dissectits rules, its rules for
promotion, for advancement,because I needed the money I
needed now to provide foranother human being, and that's
not something that I'm going tolike bull, jive you on right.
I didn't have this likemotivation to like I want to be
(03:40):
this leader, you know, I want tolike inspire people and all
this other stuff.
No, my motivation was I neededto get more money, because now I
had a kid that completelydepended on me and because of
that we got to look at the moneysituation.
Kids need money to thrive, tosurvive.
(04:02):
So I had a very pragmatic viewof things.
So I was like how can I earnmore money?
By getting promoted?
That was the answer.
Then, how do I get promoted?
That was the next question.
Well, by earning points.
In the enlisted side of thehouse you earn points by doing
(04:23):
certain things going to theboard, taking correspondence
courses, which I was doing evenbefore I became pregnant and
gave birth to my child.
But I didn't have a sense ofurgency before, right when I was
doing those things.
I just knew I wanted to advance, but I wanted to advance at a
slower pace because I was justhaving fun.
(04:43):
But then the sense of urgencykicked in.
Then I was like how can I earnmore points?
Well, you earn more points bygetting a degree.
And that's the thing.
Regardless of whether you're anofficer or an enlisted,
especially if you're an enlistedin certain specialties like my
(05:04):
specialty, an enlisted,especially if you're an enlisted
in certain specialties like myspecialty that have very high
points, where you have to havealmost all of the points, it
requires you to gain a degree.
So you don't even have to be anofficer.
If you're in my specialty,you're going to have a degree,
and that's what ended uphappening.
I knew that I would have to facecollege again Once again, not
(05:28):
like one of those human beingsthat dislike the scholarly life
I am.
I'm a nerd, I'm a geek.
I love reading.
I love listening to a professor, to a teacher, giving me
instructions and then me puttingthose instructions into play
and actioning it.
I've enjoyed that quite a lotmy entire life.
(05:49):
So I knew that I had it in meand I knew that my love of
reading will always help me outin that environment.
However, my maturity level wasthe reason as to why I had to
leave college in the first place.
I wasn't mature enough to befocused and I didn't have the
life skills necessary and youheard me saying that in the
(06:11):
previous episode, and, if not,go to that one and listen to
that one as well but I didn'thave the life skills necessary.
You need basic life skills inorder to thrive away from the
house, even if it's just a fewblocks away from the house, and
I didn't have those.
Particularly, I didn't know howto make a daily schedule and
(06:35):
focus within that daily schedule, so that way I can achieve the
things that I needed to achieveand the things that I wanted to
achieve and instead, becauseI've been constricted for so
long my entire, almost my entirechildhood really, and young
adult years then what happenedwas I didn't know what to have
(06:56):
with all this time and all thatI wanted to do was have fun,
have all the fun I never hadduring those other years.
And there went my focus andthere went me learning how a lot
time for the things that I needto do to thrive in this new
(07:16):
adult life that I found myselfin.
But you know, here comes thearmy, here comes the military
that gives you this certainstructure in a way, pushes on
you, forces you to have aschedule and then, from that
being forced on you, it's almostlike for me I don't know other
people's experience it kind offorced me then to create my own
(07:40):
based off of the example thatthe army had given me.
So, little by little, I waslearning and I was gaining the
knowledge on how to exercisethese life skills, because
through basic training and thenjust being in the army, it's
like the army forces that uponyou.
(08:01):
So you're going to learn oneway or another.
Some people don't ever learnand they end up leaving the
military without learning thoseand I don't know.
I mean they will have to talkabout their experiences on their
own.
As an outside peeking in to me,it just seemed as if they didn't
(08:21):
fully embrace the system andthat rejection just kept them
from being fully in the team,and I'm sure they had their good
reasons as to why that happened.
For me, I embrace most of it.
I do have to say that even tothis day, I'm still very quote
(08:42):
unquote civilian-like, because Imade a choice even back then,
when I was highly immature, tonot lose the parts of my
personality that made me me.
So I kept some of me within me,but I took what I needed and I
(09:02):
learned even more, and then Iended up thriving.
Back to getting points.
I needed points.
I needed to get promoted.
Therefore, I needed college.
So here I was, full circle.
The same girl who had stumbledat a community college was now
(09:24):
looking into going back toschool, but for a completely
different reason.
But for a completely differentreason, not because I felt ready
, but because I needed to getpromoted.
I needed the money to supportmy son and I was essentially
working full-time as an activeduty soldier the only thing
(09:45):
really that I can do because Ididn't want to take away more
time out of my life and takingcare of my son by going to night
classes.
I figured that online schoolwill be the one option that will
work with me and my lifestyle.
Mind you, back then, onlineschool didn't have the respect
(10:08):
that it has now.
School didn't have the respectthat it has now.
People look down at it quite alot.
It's not so bad right now, butback then people were like, what
you know?
If you tell anyone you know,particularly outside of the
military, that you were going toonline school, or even people
within the military,particularly those that went to
(10:29):
brick and mortar schools andthat's how they earned their
degree, it was like, oh, youwent to online school, you know,
you're getting your degree froman online college.
It almost seems like they weresaying you're getting your
degree from a jack in the box orsomething like that.
But I was like, once again, I do.
I was a reader.
You know I am a reader.
(10:50):
I'm a nerd.
I thrive when it comes toreading and dissecting
information in that form.
So I made a pact with myself and, looking back at my life, there
were all these particularmoments where I make these pacts
with myself and then it ends upbeing kind of like
life-changing these, likepivotal moments there and, sure
(11:13):
enough, here.
I made a pact with myself.
I was like I will readeverything that the professor
gives me to read.
I will read all the pamphlets,all the textbooks, all the notes
.
You know, I will take notes andI will be like a sponge to
(11:34):
where, when I get this degreeand people test my knowledge,
they won't know that it camefrom an online college.
That was a pact that I made withmyself.
I knew that I had missed mychance to go to a brick and
mortar school.
I knew that I was in this pointin my life where I needed to
(11:58):
advance in order to earn moremoney so that way I can take
care of my son.
I knew the only way to do thatwas through going to college,
and the only way I could go tocollege was to go online.
So I made this pact with myselfin order to thrive in that
(12:20):
environment as well and make themost out of it.
And it was almost as if I wastrying to correct what I had
done in the past with theresources that I had in my
present time.
So that's what I did noskipping, no shortcuts.
Every reading, every lecture.
(12:40):
I was there at night absorbingit.
You know, I rememberparticularly moments that I was
after work, tired, breastfeedingmy son, and I had a textbook or
a binder, something in front ofme and reading it.
Because now I had thismotivation per se and I had some
(13:02):
skills as well, not as many asI have now, but I had some
skills enough to get me throughthat time in my life.
But I think, most importantly,it was that motivation.
And I tell my son this, and Idon't think he understands how
serious I mean it, but he becamekind of like that beacon, that
(13:25):
motivation that I needed to bethe person that I am today.
And I don't know if that's howit is for other moms or other
parents, but without him I don'tthink I will be where I am
right now.
I was meant to have my son andI truly believe that, and I tell
him that in almost everybirthday card I write.
(13:47):
I don't think he understands,but he is the motivation that I
needed, he is my motivation thatkeeps me going.
And I had that responsibilityand I had this opportunity once
again, just in a different form,and I wasn't about to waste it
(14:10):
not this time around.
So I earned my associates, andit was an associates of whatever
I could, compiled with theclasses I had taken before and
the degree that I hadn'tfinished before because I had
dropped out of college.
So I took that, brought that inand then melded into whatever I
(14:49):
took and I ended up having ajustice administration associate
with that, all completelyonline.
And then came my bachelor's,you know, and I did the same
thing, right, rolled over thatassociate, took a few classes At
this time, something that Ihadn't shared with you was that
I was still stuck on nursingclasses.
I really thought I wanted to bea nurse.
Really, I listened to my momand her counsel to me that this
(15:13):
was something that I wasnaturally good at.
Also, the nurses at thehospital, when they saw me
taking care of my grandma, toldme that.
So those voices right.
And I was young, I was reallyimpressionable.
So it was easy for me to, notknowing myself, to believe
somebody else telling me who Iwas.
So and I listened and I wentwith it.
(15:36):
So, even while going onlineschool, trying to achieve my
bachelor's this time around, Iwas also going for a nursing
degree this time around, butthere was still something in the
back of my mind, you know, thatsaid that this was not for me.
And you know, when you don'tlisten to that like life just
(15:57):
keeps throwing rocks at youuntil you get it.
And that's what essentiallyhappened with this nursing
degree, because it's like I kepthitting a wall time and time
and time again when it comes toit.
First of all, you can't whollyfinish a bachelor's in nursing
completely online.
So I got like three years worthof it, but then it came a time
(16:19):
when I needed to go topracticals.
And guess what?
I couldn't, because now we'redeploying, you know.
And my commander was like no, Ican't let you go, just so you
can finish this degree.
You know, you got to, got todeploy with us, we need you here
and there goes that.
So I was back again going toeducational counselor and the
(16:42):
army base that I was in andasking what can I do with all
these classes that tie tonothing I can do right now,
which was a mixture of justice,administration and a lot of
natural sciences, you know, andnursing classes, and she was
like well, the closest that youcan do is a business degree, I
was like I like money, I want torun my own business, you know,
(17:06):
in the future.
I was like, yes, let's go withthat.
So this amalgamation of justiceadministration classes and
nursing classes after a few morecourses I think I want to say
like I still needed to do likefive or six courses became my
(17:28):
bachelor's degree in businessadministration and I got all the
points right.
Even before I got that degree,I got all the points with
associates.
It wasn't glamorous, it was notglamorous, it was the most ugly
kind of growth you could everimagine.
It was like I was doing the lowcrawl in a cave that was muddy
(18:03):
cave that was muddied.
That's how it looked.
But here's what I learnedSometimes you need an external
motivator to push you back ontothat path and for me it was my
son.
It was my son in realizing Ihave this entire human being now
that is solely depending on me.
So now I need to provide.
How do I provide?
I figured out it was throughmore promotion points and
(18:25):
getting promoted.
And boom, that was the spark.
But what kept me going wasn'tthe army, it wasn't more
promotions, it was me.
Me, it wasn't more promotions,it was me.
It was that discipline that Ibuilt, the focus that I finally
found and the realization that Icould succeed at something even
(18:48):
if I had once failed at it.
And I think that's the lessonhere, the important lesson for
anyone listening the reason yougo back to school or go back to
anything you have once faileddoesn't have to be perfect.
You don't even need a noblereason.
As you can see, I needed moremoney.
(19:10):
It just has to be enough to getyou started, just has to be
enough to get you started.
The rest comes from what youbuild in yourself along the way.
So, vacitos, this is my secondchapter in the story of higher
education.
As you can see, these lessonsare not scholarly tied, but
(19:31):
they're tied to life the armyyears and my comeback through
online school.
The army years and my comebackthrough online school that's all
life.
Next time, I'll share how Itook education even further, no
longer for promotions orpaychecks, but for me.
(19:51):
And speaking of doing things forme, I want to remind you,
listeners, that my novel, theOrdinary Bruja, is officially up
for pre-order.
I'll be releasing it November1st 2025.
This is the book of my heart,y'all.
It's the story I always wantedto read but couldn't find a
story about identity, dominicanmagic, revenge and learning to
(20:15):
embrace who you are.
You can pre-order your copytoday at haveacupofjoanicom.
You know, I'll put the link inthe show notes.
And hey, if today's storyconnected with you, I'd love to
hear from you.
You can email me at joa athaveacupofjoanicom, or hang out
with me on TikTok.
I'm there with two profiles Oneis at A Cup of Joani and the
(20:41):
other one is the book Bruja.
Or you can hang out with me onInstagram at have A Cup of Joani
.
Of course, I will link all ofthat in the show notes for you.
Until next time, remember, thesecond chance might just be the
one that sticks.
You never know.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Bye, more stories, blog posts and the bits that
started it all.
Thank you for being here.
Until next time, be soft, bebold and always have a cup of
John.
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