21 Thoughts All Counseling Students Have

I wanted to post something really insightful and interesting this December but my mind is fully cluttered by finals week and all of my end-of-term assignments. So instead I'm going to talk about what's really on my mind during this Christmas season and that's college. So if you're in the same boat I'm in please enjoy...

1. "I'm pretty sure this person has a DSM diagnosable disorder, but I have no grounds to do anything about it or even diagnose them." 

2. "HA! other majors spend class time going over complex formulas and modules, while my class spent the entire time sitting in a circle talking about feelings!"  

3. This is great until the professor announces that you'll be having a final on the entire book, none of which you have covered in class in any solid way. 

4. "Help me I'm self-diagnosing and I can't stop..."

5. When you meet really strange people in public and you think "Oh no... I have to work with people like this..." and you question the entirety of your life choices. 

6. But then you realize weird people are interesting... "So tell me why do you want to eat your hair?"

7. When you actually do better than expected on a project.

8. When you have an eerie epiphany, "I might be the crazy one..." 

9. and then you realize everyone else in the class is just as crazy as you are... "takes one to know one right?" 

10. When you take the "self-care" advice in ethics very seriously. 

11. When you're trying to stay ahead of the game and then life happens, "come on Professor you're always talking about empathy, try having some!"

12. When the professor tries to explain something using the exact words from the syllabus, "You don't say, I would have never thought to read that before asking you..."

13. So you write your paper anyway having no idea what you're doing.

14. When you see something really cool in a mock counseling session, "I'll just save that in my mental rolodex for later."

15. When your advisor recommends a place for internship that you've heard terrible terrible things about.

16. When you consider going for your Phd. but then remember you would have to write a dissertation. 

17. When someone shares something super weird with you and you're trying to keep a poker face.

18. When you first begin your internship. 

19. When your emotionally irrational and remind yourself that you have to apply the same techniques to yourself that you would your clients.

20.  When you completely botch a practice session 

and finally...

21. When you care about your future career and helping others so much that you keep persevering through your degree. You got this!

 

I just finished one year in my Masters degree so I'm half way to getting my degree in mental health counseling! Woo hoo! So I'm celebrating with a ridiculous blog post and with this awesome photo with my professor and classmates: