Magician: Decision Making

[Shiloh Adlar]

We've all had to make a tough decision at some point in our lives. Tell us a story about that time or create a story about a tough decision someone had to make if you would rather not share from a real life experience.

Worth 5 activity points for at least 150 words!

[Niniel Sanders]

Deciding whether or not to quit my job was probably one of the hardest choices I've ever made where the stakes were at their highest.

I worked as an aid for a disabled man who, despite being able to do a lot of things himself, was still bound to a wheelchair. I had worked for him before doing my apprenticeship as a bookstore clerk, but after the apprenticeship ended I was out of a job and was offered the same job I had had before I started in the book store.

I happily accepted, but very quickly found out that circumstances had changed dramatically: he had found a girlfriend who was not disabled and who had moved in. And I found myself servicing her as much as I did him. Being that she was his girlfriend however, it was impossible for me to get him to tell her that I was there for him, not for her, but it made me really angry playing maid to her when she was just as able as I was.
It was when that started bleeding into the time I wasn't at work, that I began considering whether it was time to call it quits.

But on the other hand, I was being paid good money, and in that regard it shouldn't really matter what I did for them. Still my sense of justice found it so hard to cope with that every day at work made me miserable and angry. So although it meant I had to look for another job, I decided to value my sanity above a job that brought me a fair income, but ultimately one I didn't need. I quit the job and immediately started feeling better about myself.

It's a privileged choice to be able to make, and it was a tough one, but I am glad I made it and that I was in a circumstance that allowed me to make it.

[Joey Stark]

Niniel, I'm glad you were in position to be able to make that choice-it sounds like a difficult one. It's always important to look after yourself and your own well being, my story also bears this in mind.

I had a difficult decision to make very recently. I graduated last year and managed to get a place on a Postgraduate course at my university, I then got a full scholarship which would mean I paid nothing towards it whilst there. Everyone I knew was really proud of me and congratulated me a lot on that and my marks for my first degree. It was especially difficult for me to achieve because at the end of my final year, I started to have seizures (due to a concussion) and told I had developed epilepsy. I was then put on very strong medications over the holidays as a result that affect my memory, make me very sleepy and effect my verbal skills to a degree-speech, thinking of words, spelling, typing, reading, writing etc. I went back to do my Postgrad regardless but after 5-6 weeks there I realised that currently, my health was affecting me too much and that the stress of continuing would be significant and the end result would not reflect what I wanted to achieve.

I knew it would be better for me to delay my course and start again next september instead but I really didn't want to let everyone down who had been so excited about me going. I also felt like I was giving up and unable to progress academically at the same rate as before. It also means moving from my home of 5 years and the hospital that treats me to my old home town. I eventually chose to delay my course but it was really difficult to make. My friends and family turned out really supportive of the decision which was really helpful and HOL (especially quidditch) has helped me trying to keep up and practise using my verbal skills and memory as much as possible , so that helped too!

Hopefully in the near future, I'll have both seizure control and be able to manage my medications and basically return pretty much to my usual self! Then I have the opportunity to finish my degree in a much better situation. I think it is the right choice!

[Hannah R Thomas]

That must’ve been really tough for you Joey and I know the feeling. I always get the thought, every now and then, that I won’t be able to complete my degree due to my learning disability towards reading comprehension. As I grew up, thinking that English would never make sense to me and only numbers would, I eventually got over the fact that I can understand any subject that comes my way and can do remarkably well in education if I strive for it and keep believing that it is possible. “Always look on the bright side ”

I would say the toughest decision in my life is discovering the path I wanted to do within my life after I graduated the university. I always looked up to my parents towards excelling in education. I first started thinking that taking care of animals in the near future would be the job I was looking for, but I was wrong. Science isn’t my strongest and I thought my parents would be disappointed in me (since both are science nerds). They weren’t and told me that my grandfather earned five degrees: three in history (two of them being pursued in American History), one in computer science, and the last in criminal justice. I even had cousins who thought they knew what they were doing in higher education, but pursued a different kind of education after realizing their original education, after two years, wasn’t for them. It was then that I recognized teaching high education in mathematics was meant for me and if I ever wanted to, I could try engaging in other studies that always catch my eye

[Leonie Hauri]

All of you have had such tough decisions! I have a feeling mine will pale in comparison.

I'm not really comfortable talking about my personal life online, and I haven't had to make any decisions that are too hard that I know of, so I will talk about a decision I made in my online life.

Recently, I have been trying to stretch my time between this site and another site, Hogwarts Extreme. I have responsibilities on both sites, but lately I haven't been being very responsible on Hogwarts Extreme because of Virtual Hogwarts. In addition, I would really prefer more of my free time to be actual free time and not constantly doing activities and writing submitting things for Virtual Hogwarts and Hogwarts Extreme. I thought I could balance it out, but lately I've been falling behind on my jobs for Hogwarts Extreme. I finally realized that I couldn't keep doing this.

I really don't to quit either site, though. I've been holding onto both for a long time, trying to balance things out. However, in keeping up with Virtual Hogwarts, I've been inactive on Hogwarts Extreme. Because of trying to keep up with everything, I haven't gotten the chance to learn as much as I'd like to.

So I'm going to quit Hogwarts Extreme, I think. It never even crossed my mind to quit Virtual Hogwarts, luckily! This way I will have more free time as well as more time to spend on Virtual Hogwarts. I can be more active with my debate club and RPG forum. Or at least that's the plan. And lose the stress of trying to keep up with both sites at once.

Yep, it sounds pathetic compared to seizures and life problems and jobs.