Success is Subjective: Helping parents of college students accept that dropping out is okay

Episode 48 —When Things Don’t Go As Planned —with Maria Heilner

February 09, 2021 Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC Season 1 Episode 48
Success is Subjective: Helping parents of college students accept that dropping out is okay
Episode 48 —When Things Don’t Go As Planned —with Maria Heilner
Show Notes

Whether it’s a career field that seems like it will never work out or the dream that seems too big after getting a diagnosis. When things don’t go as planned, what if instead of seeing it as something gone wrong, you take it as a sign that there is just more personal growth needed? Maybe it’s not that you’re not good enough for it, but instead not quite ready for it yet.

Maria Heilner, a registered nurse at the dermatology center of Steamboat springs, didn’t think nursing was going to work out at first. After multiple attempts and people telling her it would never work out, Maria began to lose hope but she still decided to try one more time. Now, she’s a registered nurse and living out what didn’t seem possible. 

On this episode of Success is Subjective, Maria joins Joanna to share her journey going from struggling for years to make her dream to become a nurse come true, to now working a job she enjoys as a registered nurse. When things didn’t go as planned, Maria persevered and didn’t let anything stop her from achieving her goals. Listen in for Maria’s insight on how she managed to get up after being knocked down time after time and how you can too.

What You Will Learn

  • Looking at college as just another transition like elementary, middle, and high school
  • What it’s like when your parents are the ones who play a large role in making the decision of where she went to school
  • Finding a new sense of independence in college due to having a strict childhood
  • How a first-year student who focuses on social life only, ends up with bad grades 
  • Because she didn’t know what anxiety was, she mistook her panic attacks for asthma attacks
  • After being diagnosed with ADHD, she started to lean on the university accommodations
  • How your Academic Advisor can really make or break a college experience, especially around feeling a sense of belonging
  • Feeling devastated and ashamed when one career path doesn’t go as planned
  • Identifying one college as not being a good fit, is a great realization!  Not returning is totally a choice! 
  • How she didn’t get accepted into two nursing programs, and that didn’t stop her from applying to a third program.  Third time's a charm!  
  • Her advice at the end is so important that everyone needs to hear it! 

Connect with Maria Heilner

  • Maria Heilner of Steamboat Springs, CO. 
  • Contact information: email aspenheilner@gmail.com

Connect with Joanna Lilley