Nugget #1: As an undergrad, classes are broken up between 50-minutes Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes and 1-hour and 15-minute Tuesday-Thursday classes. I vividly remember dreading Tuesday-Thursday classes because those extra 25 minutes ticked by ever so slowly. Watching the clock was excruciating, and no matter how long I thought it had been, a full minute had never actually gone by when I allowed myself to check the time again.
Oh, how I long for the days! In grad school, classes are no shorter than 2-hours and 50-minutes... and grad school professors love to make sure we students get our money's worth. Now, if you're legs are cramping or your buns falling asleep just thinking about sitting still for that amount of time, don't fret; we get a break... Yes, we split that 3-hour class somewhere down the middle with a nice, relaxing 9-minute break. [if it's not translating via cyber space, that's sarcasm: 9 minutes in 3 hours is like a second in a lifetime]
Nugget #2: As a counselor-- my chosen profession-- it's important to be able to appreciate, if not completely understand, a client's perspective. In most respects, I think I am capable of this. With some concentration and a little extra effort, I can almost always at least catch a fleeting glimpse of someone else's point of view. After all, the very nature of counseling is learning why people think the way they think, feel what they feel, behave the way they behave. Weekly, it is impressed upon we Master's candidates that we are never to impose our values on our clients. For the most part, I think I can achieve this. There are a few points, mostly religious, where I might have to draw the line and refer before I scream, "Don't kill babies!" at a more "progressive" individual than myself, for instance. Tonight, though, I realized that I have a fairly extreme weakness that might interfere with the counseling relationship, a blind spot in my perspective-taking: introversion.
Weird, you might think. I am an extravert to the extreme. The very fact that I have a blog is evidence that I'm willing to spill my thoughts on anyone bored enough to read them. Introverts retreat when they're upset, while I surround myself with enough people to keep my thoughts at bay. Introverts cherish alone time and quiet, whereas I roll with an entourage about 15 deep. In the rare moments when I am alone, my phone is my faux-companion and it keeps me in constant contact with favorites like Anna and Erica (when I give people my number I do so with a disclaimer: ye be warned, I'm a texter). My mother, something of an introvert herself, always turns the television off when no one's watching it because the noise is unnecessary racket to her. On the contrary, I never sit in silence. Even when I'm doing homework, I have the television on something that doesn't particularly interest me or my iTunes on shuffle. My relationship with my best friend in high school was perfect and so special because we could just sit and be in the same room, never alone but never in need of entertainment. Bottom line, I don't like silence and my mortal fear is loneliness. I don't have secrets about myself; I'm a walking cliche-- "I wear my heart on my sleeve" or "I'm an open book." Whatever you want to call it. Living in this extreme, I don't get introversion. I just don't get it. I can't imagine a life in isolation or living with my guard up. Half the fun of friendship is the investment, the comfort, and I don't understand not being able to just lay at the foot of Erica's bed ranting and raving or not walking the trail at night and laying my fears and excitements out for Anna. I mean, look at me here laying out my every thought onto a website for all the world, figuratively speaking, to see. So there it is: I don't get introversion. I don't know how to deal with it. Maybe that's what the program will teach me... or maybe it's just my Achille's heel.
Nugget #3: I never thought I'd say this, but... I think I might be a runner. I'm not ready to make a commitment yet, no need to put my relationship with running on Facebook or anything... but things are getting kind of serious with me and the treadmill and I think it's safe to talk about it with my closest friends (if you care enough to read this, welcome to my friend circle). Lately Running and I have been spending some time together... usually just brief intervals, first date stuff.... taking it slow, getting to know each other. I'm just not sure I'm ready to end things with the elliptical yet, between you and I. I gave the bicycle a shot-- a little fling, if you will-- but frankly, he was a real snooze fest. So I'm just kind of playing the field for now... a little time with the elliptical, a little time with the treadmill; no harm, no foul.
Nugget #4: I'm meeting with my assistantship professor tomorrow. I was originally assigned to a professor that I've had before, but I've been reassigned to someone that I'm unfamiliar with. It looks like I'll be helping him critique a professional journal that he edits. Hooray! More reading. I'm a little anxious about it, but really I just want to nail down a schedule of some sort. What a shock: I'm dying to make a plan.
Nugget #5: I think I'll go to bed now... or maybe read a bit...
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