Growing up, I always loved Hannah Montana. For those of you who do not know, she was an icon! What started as a Disney show turned into a worldwide sensation. Hannah Montana, played by Miley Cyrus, was just a regular girl who essentially lived two different lives. She was a hard-working, normal student during the day and a rockstar at night. Throughout all of the craziness, she found comfort and support through her music, family, and friends. In a lot of ways my life mirrors hers and I truly feel like I have \u201cThe Best of Both Worlds\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hey, I\u2019m Courtney Eoff. I am a full-time employee at Tarleton State, a grad student, and a singer-songwriter. Busy is a great word to describe my life, but I would not have it any other way. After earning my undergraduate degree in Marketing from Texas A&M\u2019s Mays Business School, I took a year off from school to work. Then, after some time had passed, I decided to take the next step in my education and pursue my graduate degree. Obtaining this degree was a goal of mine and there is no time like the present to start your pursuit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Balancing Act<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My first semester in grad school was definitely an adventure. I felt like I was playing this really tedious game of balancing course assignments, deadlines for work, and scheduling music gigs on the weekends. I had to be very intentional with my time to ensure I got everything done to the best of my ability. At times, I felt like my creativity was being pulled in all directions which led to me feeling a little overwhelmed. But one day, as I was driving home from work, Hannah Montana\u2019s \u201cLife is What You Make It\u201d started playing. This song has been on my playlist for years. However, I was no longer the 7-year-old little girl rocking out with her plastic purple guitar. Instead, I was 23 and thinking about my task list to complete. The lyrics, \u201cThings are looking up anytime you want \/ All you gotta do is realize that it\u2019s under your control,\u201d <\/em>struck me differently as an adult. I had to change my mindset! I could either be consumed by my schedule or enjoy each step of the journey I was on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Encouragement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes it can be so easy to get caught up in the season of life you are in. Life can be challenging and oftentimes very difficult, but growth is never easy or comfortable. As I heard this song, I thought about how blessed I am to go to a great university, have a full-time job, and get to pursue music on the weekends. My family and friends are amazing and have supported me along the way. Most importantly, I have faith in God, who has guided me through every high and low of life. I needed to shift my attitude and have more gratitude for the position I was in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I encourage you to embrace your \u201cHannah Montana attitude\u201d. How can you ever be a rock star in life if you don’t put the effort in? It probably will not be easy, but find joy in all the moments. Turn to people that love and support you when you are down. Ask professors to talk if you need help or want to build those grad school connections. Doing all of this will help you reach your goals. Whether you are in school, working, or singing on a stage, \u201cLife is what you make it\u201d, just remember that!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Growing up, I always loved Hannah Montana. For those of you who do not know, she was an icon! What started as a Disney show turned into a worldwide sensation. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":11580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":210,"footnotes":""},"categories":[210],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-graduate-studies"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2025\/01\/Courtney-Eoff-Life-is-What-You-Make-It-Blog.png","author_info":{"display_name":"adriver","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/author\/adriver\/"},"author_meta":{"display_name":"adriver","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/author\/adriver\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2025\/01\/Courtney-Eoff-Life-is-What-You-Make-It-Blog.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Graduate Studies<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Graduate Studies<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on January 29, 2025","modified":"Updated on January 29, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on January 29, 2025 3:20 pm","modified":"Updated on January 29, 2025 2:04 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11579"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11594,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11579\/revisions\/11594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/becomeatexan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}