You're Only Old Once!

And now a question which will quickly become an OLD Ask E. Jean Classic:

Dear E. Jean:

I’m a woman on the wrong side of fifty-five who has just embarked upon an advanced degree. When I graduate, I will be a Master of Social Work and a sexagenarian.

If I’m to give any credence to Erikson’s eight stages of development (about which I’m studying in my psychosocial development class), I’m at that point where I should be “looking back” at my life. Part of the reason I’m sacrificing 40 hours a week to intense study, while working full-time at my marketing day job, is to look back with “satisfaction” rather than “despair.” With an MSW, I may finally be able to make a difference in this troubled world of ours.

I do enjoy school—the reading, research, writing, mind expansion. But I miss the concept of free time. And I’m also experiencing extreme social anxiety in this new graduate school environment. Am I putting myself through unnecessary hardship? Am I delusional, thinking that I can reshape a li…