So I've been a bit quiet since I've been busy the last two weeks wrapping up graduate school...and hey, I'm officially done!!!
Classes ended on this past Thursday, internship ended on Friday and today I passed in my last paper...I have to bring some final documentation into the program tomorrow, but it's all signed sealed and just waiting to be delivered. I graduate at the end of next week and then...?
Well, I'm on an indefinite (but hopefully short lived as I need an income) vacation. The goal is to land some work in the nearish future and so the job hunt has been reinvigorated from it's neglected back burner position from the last couple of weeks.
People keep asking me "How does it feel to be done?!"
...to which I'm still not sure how to answer. It's mixed, some moments I'm very excited, some I'm scared, some I'm happy and some I'm sad. There are so many things I can do now, and I know I'll end up helping a lot of people. I'm nervous to start a new job and have new challenges as well as still being unsure if I'm "ready" or not...although I'm as ready as I'm going to be! I've been so lucky to be a part of my small, tight-knit program...I will miss seeing the people who really became such great friends as much as we have in the past 2 years.
Anyway, I want to take the opportunity to set some goals for myself for the upcoming weeks and this summer:
1. Get a job. No, get a great job. I want something I enjoy doing, population I enjoy working with, shortish commute, good pay, the potential to grow clinically and ultimately get licensed at the end of the mandatory 2 years.
2. Take the Licensing exam in my state. My goal is to take that this summer to get it out of the way, so that I'll be licensed eligible. (Licensing after 2 years means that I can practice on my own, vs. under another clinician's supervision).
3. Read a ton of books. I haven't had much time to read for fun in the last 2 years, aside for on breaks. There are some books I already have that I can start to pour into, but I'm really open to some must read suggestions, let me know your thoughts! (I have Russell Brand's "My Booky Wook" staring at me from my book pile right now...maybe he can help teach me how to improve on #7? You know you're in trouble for some good reading when you turn to Russell Brand for guidance and brain food.)
4. Keep up with my running. I've been doing pretty well since I posted about getting my run on. I try to run 3-4 times a week, and I try and run about 2-4 miles a run...while this ain't no marathon it's a huge improvement from when I started up again a couple of months back.
5. Start my yoga practice (haha). I think I could benefit from the moving mediation and my body is still stressed coming off the school year, an needing some stretching out...If you are local to me and have a yoga class you like, let me know I'd like to join you.
6. Be more financially responsible and thus stable. I'm in the brainstorming stages on how I can do this...Hoping this summer is focused on saving myself some money, setting myself up for fiscal stability in the nearish future. I hope to maintain an active, fun and social life while not spending as if the government is still paying for me (thank you direct student loans, and I curse you too).
7. Be more silly. I've noticed, as well as been told, that I take things too seriously. I mean I'm a joker, I joke around a lot...whether or not I'm funny is another question, but I'm very sarcastic and joking is part of my personality...but what I mean is being able to let go. I'm working on being less, I'll say, controlling for the lack of a better way to say it. Like for instance, typically I get really annoyed when I'm trying to play a game with friends and people aren't paying attention, or people are having side conversations and holding the game up. But the reality is, who cares? The fun part is that we're hanging out playing a game. Simple example but maybe you catch my drift.
8. Stop being so hard on myself. I had a wonderful conversation with one of my best friends last week and she pointed out that I have a hard time letting those close to me know when things aren't alright. I mean I blog, obviously, but when people ask me how I'm doing, if it's not in the heat of the moment of challenge, I'm always "fine". She let me know that I can afford to be more open with things aren't great, and that my friends are really here for me when I need them...which I knew, but is so nice to hear since I don't often take people up on the opportunity to vent, cry, etc. She also noted that even when I was talking about stuff that was hard for me right now, that I qualified it with "well we all have tough stuff going on". I guess I allow other people to have hard things going on, but dismiss myself when I do.
9. Figure out more fun things for my list.
10. Enjoy some down time. I want to hang by my mom's pool, get to the beach, hang out with my friends, take some alone time, do some camping, be out in nature, eat healthy yummy foods...sleep in sometimes...While I need to keep some structure, and I have to make money, I want to allow myself some time to relax and rejuvenate, now that I can.
Remember the old yearbook phrase H.A.G.S. (have a good summer)? It's simple, but I'm bringing it back. Who know we were so wise as middle-schoolers?
Until next time,
E
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