Leaning Into Yourself: Abandoning Fear And Embracing Yourself

“We’re all just walking each other home.” ― Ram Dass We went around the room, one by one answering the question proposed by our graduate school professor in the counseling psychology program I’d recently been accepted into: “Once you complete your master’s and doctoral degrees, what do you intend to do?” Perpetually anxious, I hyperventilated as each member of my cohort detailed their future research plans, careers in academia, and other equally intimidating (and boring, in my opinion) pursuits. “Angie, what about you?” Dr. Wesley asked sincerely, his head slightly tilted while he awaited the response of yet another ambitious scholar. “Um, the truth is this is my backup plan.” Oh, God! Holy shit. Did I really just say that? “I mean, I’d like to become a therapist one day, but my real calling is to be a mother.” Two seconds and twelve hundred heart palpitations later, he moved on awkwardly to the more sophisticated classmate to the right of me who whispered in my ear, “That was awesome!” Graduate school was a series of humiliating moments, much like this one. Thankfully, despite my profound lack of interest in things like multivariate statistics, research methods, and cognitive neuroscience, I fell in love with courses like approaches to psychotherapy and psychopathology, group dynamics, and how we develop and form attachments. In the midst of classes, papers, and presentations, I...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news