If You Can Relate

Many years ago I began to wonder if I’d enjoy being a therapist, and whether I’d be any good at it. Psychology and healing always interested me, but so did many other things, and I was allergic to the idea of professionalism. I decided I wouldn’t enjoy it, and would rather have a job that brought me outdoors and required me to work with people.

Several years passed, and I was working with young children and their parents in the botanical garden one day. I realized that my time spent teaching outdoors had helped me develop a deep interest in people and an ability to read and connect with them. My time and abilities were more valuable and advanced than teaching about nature, and it was time to level up (and out).

From the moment of that realization to the moment of my first Master’s program application submission, I would love to say only a few months passed. I would love to say that just a year passed. I am not going to say exactly how much time passed, but it was en extended period of overthinking and self-doubt. I constantly wondered if I had what it takes, and ceaselessly self-analyzed my own thoughts and actions to assess my readiness. I finally worked through this paralyzing mind-state one weekend when my dad visited me, and sat on the couch with me while I initiated my first Graduate School application.

I am now working on my third application and my head currently hurts. I am sick of writing about my “readiness for graduate study” and trying to come up with interesting facts for a ‘writing sample’ essay. But I am determined to rise to this next level, help many people during my lifetime, and get out of the sand.

If you can relate, please let me know. If you can’t please let me know that too, and thank you for reading.