<p>Hello! I'm a new member and my first time posting here. This is going to be a little long, but I'd appreciate it if you could read it.</p>
<p>A little background to start: I'm a current student at a community college in the paralegal program there, hoping to graduate with my associate's this fall after I complete my internship at a law firm. I'm also in the Honors Program there. I have always been really proud of my academic achievements and was a very good student in high school. The reason I chose my local community college was because of my grandpa. He just passed away a couple of years ago but had really bad health problems, such as chronic back pain, swelling in his legs because of fluid, and finally, the complete loss of the use of his legs. Due to the fact that my grandma and aunt on my mom's side had passed away years ago and no family or friends to help nearby, my mom and I became his caregivers. Because of that, I grew very close with him and still miss him so much. So when it was time to think about college, the thought to going away to one of the state's universities never really occurred to me. I knew I wanted to go to college, but I really only considered my local community college. Sometimes I've wondered what it would've been like to go away for college, but I don't regret going to community college because the paralegal program and the law in general is really interesting, and I've had great teachers.</p>
<p>So here's my issue: When I started at my community college, I was very eager and was excited to study and do schoolwork. However, I've noticed that since my grandpa died, I've lost some motivation to study and do school work (this last year has been the worst it seems like). I hope to get a year of experience before going back to school and getting my bachelor's in paralegal studies or in another field that relates to the area of law that I want to specialize in. I may even want go to law school one day if I think I might want to be a lawyer, but that's kind of a stretch, so we'll see. This loss of motivation really worries me because I have my whole life ahead of me, and I don't want this to get worse as I get older.</p>
<p>There's no way I'm going to quit, and so I just push through, but I really need some help. Thank you! :) </p>