Sometimes it takes a huge life change to realize what is really important. For Colby Dean, that moment was becoming a father. This is his story.
By: Colby Dean, M. A. Counseling Psychology
When I was going through college [the first time], I wasn’t very motivated. I didn’t know what I truly wanted to do with my life or if college was the right thing for me. Something always felt “off” for me. I decided I would drop out and start working with my father in the family business.
In 2014, my father passed away, and a month later I found out I was going to be a father. At that moment, it hit me. I realized how important it was for me to go back to school, finish my degree, and get into a master’s program that would allow me to pursue my passion for counseling and do what I have always wanted to do with my life.
The day my son was born was the day my life changed forever. The first time I held him in my arms I knew I had to give him and his mother the best life I could.
Related Article: Inspiration from SNU Dads
I was never great at school. I was a “C” student when I first went into college. But when I went back, I felt like I had a real reason to do what I could to change. I ended up getting A’s and B’s, presented a study I was running with another classmate and my professor/mentor, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and I was accepted into the master’s program for Counseling Psychology at SNU. I was motivated to make a change in my life because it wasn’t about me this time. It was about being able to give my son the best life I can for him as well as being the best father I could be.
One way I can do that is by being an example for him, showing him that no matter what, as long as we put our heart and our soul into accomplishing something, we will not fail.
Becoming a father has not only been the greatest experience of my life, it has also been the most stressful and also most rewarding thing I have ever done. All I want is the best for my son. He has changed my life for the better in more ways than he or anyone else could ever know. He is the reason I am getting a master’s degree in counseling.
Being able to see him everyday and watch him grow, watch him laugh, and have him run up to me and give me a huge hug every time he sees me reminds me of why I am going through this program at SNU. I am doing this to make the world a better place for not only my son’s future, but for every one’s future. One person at a time.