A Blessing in Disguise

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A permanent stain on my record, 100 hours of community service, and a fine were all the result of what I felt was doing the right thing. This didn’t make me reflect on solely my decision making but where I was in my life. At that point in my life I was 25 years old and knew it was time to make some serious changes. I hadn’t finished college and was in a dead end serving job. It was definitely time for a change of scenery. For the next full year of court dates, alcohol classes, fines and the dreading endless hours of community service I had been promising to myself that once I was free from all of this I would make a change. From working in restaurants for the past 5 years and becoming bored with it I became very passionate about wanting to make a better and more rewarding career for myself. I decided that I really wanted to become a Graphic Designer and started researching colleges where I discovered Portland Community College. It was perfect, they had a program especially for Graphic Design and I could receive instate tuition because I was a resident of California. It would be in a brand new place where I could officially start over. I quickly signed up for FAFSA and a few months later I received an email from PCC saying that my financial aid was excepted and everything was good to go.

This all fell into perfect timing to the ending of all my court requirements. By November 2013 I paid my last court payment, completed my community service and had fully regained my driving privileges. By the time January approached I would be more than ready to drive up to Portland Oregon for the start of the winter semester. By then I’ll have saved up enough money from work and would be more than ready to start my new life. And that’s just what I did. Christmas approached and that’s when I finally decided that I would tell my friends and family that I was planning on moving far away for a couple of years. They were sad that I wouldn’t be close by for holidays and family gatherings anymore but in all they were really excited for me and were very supportive of my decision.

Looking back to where I was a year ago to this current point of my life it is crazy to see how drastically it has changed. Nothing in my life is the same at all. I have all new friends, I am learning and progressing in college and have a completely different routine. For once in my life I actually feel like I am on the right path and am finally doing things for me. I am actually happy and feel proud of myself. The DUI may have been a bad experience at the time but it was a very helpful life lesson for me. It made me really reflect on life almost like a wakeup call. It’s interesting how something so negative was actually able to make me see and overcome challenges I had been experiencing in my life. It was a blessing in disguise.

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