Education Will Fix Everything (They Said)

 

At the age of 40, when most people start Googling “best pillow for back pain” or “figuring out how to live with progressive lenses for myopia & presbyopia”, I decided to do something bold. No, not skydiving.

 

I decided to pursue an MBA.

 

Why? Because after 19 years in software sales, I felt I should finally understand business instead of just selling it confidently on PowerPoint. “JUST KIDDING”

 

Let’s be honest better pay, better growth, and the dangerous belief that “education will fix everything.”

 

Distance learning sounded perfect. Study from home, learn at my own pace, no attendance pressure. What they forgot to mention was that “home” which is not a peaceful library but a battlefield.

 

Sales is not a job, it’s a lifestyle disorder. Targets don’t care about your MBA dreams. Deadlines don’t say, “Oh, you have an assessment due?  Take your time”.

 

Every day is a mix of follow-ups, calls, mails, escalations, and that one client who replies after two weeks with “Pls call urgent.” Pressure is constant. Like background music. Loud background music.

 

MBA subjects sound very intellectual strategy, operations, finance, but they mostly translate into late-night reading sessions where you fall asleep on the laptop and wake up with keyboard marks.

 

Assessments arrive with innocent deadlines but evil intentions. They are special torture, on the whatsapp  group one person over-contributes, and reply he has completed all the assessments. Where in I am still struggling to start.

 

Having a one year old kid, adorable, cute, and professionally trained to destroy sleep & study schedules. Babies don’t care about quarterly targets or case studies. They believe night is day and day is optional. You plan to study after dinner, but suddenly you’re rocking a baby at 2 am, humming songs you never knew you remembered, while reading marketing notes with one eye open.

 

And then there is my wife, also going through a midlife crisis, same age, different symptoms. She need attention. Emotional conversations. Quality time. Deep talks. Preferably right when I open my laptop to study or work. According to her, everything else happens easily if you think if you be determined, even the baby sometimes is competing with her. And honestly, she’s not entirely wrong.

 

Somewhere in this chaos, there’s me, trying to also manage personal health and exercise, with a lifetime membership at a sports club, with a goal to reduce those extra 20kgs. My smartwatch politely reminds me to move, breathe, and relax things I clearly don’t have time for.

 

Managing work, studies, family, marriage, and health together feels like juggling five balls while one is on fire, one is crying, one is asking for attention, and the other two are deadlines.

 

Is it tough? Extremely. 

Is it exhausting? Every single day. 

Do I regret it? Maybe….. during assessment submissions.

 

But somewhere between sales calls, baby laughs, MBA lectures, and late-night arguments about “you’re always busy,” I realise this madness called "distance learning" at 40 is teaching me patience, time management, humility, and how to survive on four hours of sleep without losing my humour.