My Future Dream

Ever since I was a child, it has been my dream to be a doctor. It started at first because to me doctors were cool and rich. Then it changed from them being cool and rich to having prestige and respect. Finally, it morphed into an actual understanding that what they do is save lives and help other people. I learned very early on in my childhood that it was my gift to help others.

Even as a small child, I was always helping someone in some way or another. I would help my mother clean the house as she was doing other household chores such as washing and cooking. I would help my friends with their homework without taking any credit for it and I always seemed to attract people to me who were vulnerable and needed help in some way or another. As I grew, my dream had been just close enough but far away from my reach to make it frustrating for me. I started my “doctoring” career by doctoring the minds of students as an educator. However, as rewarding as that was and still is, it was not my ultimate goal. I had told myself from about age five or so that I would never be satisfied with my life until the title of Dr. was attached to my name.

Over the years, the type of doctor I wanted to be would change according to my reality in terms of who I was and what I was learning about myself. The discipline I wanted to pursue also changed constantly according to the kinds of situations I was faced with where helping others was concerned. The most long lasting and, by far, heaviest tug on my emotions and mental and emotional strengths and capacities, I would say, is Psychology.

I am very interested in the way the human mind functions. Why do we do the things we do? Why do different people react to the same situations in such very different ways? Why are some people traumatized by certain life events while others seem to continue their lives without any problems? What could I do to help these people and, most importantly, what could I do to help myself heal from the traumas that I had been through as a child? Why couldn’t I just shake them off like I had been repeatedly told to do and move on?

These thoughts have continued to be the driving factor in my decision to be a doctor, more specifically a Clinical Psychologist so that I can not only help myself, but others to become more fully functioning and productive social beings. How much more can we tap into the greatest resource ever known to man: the mind? If we can clear the mind of all the excess baggage that we lug around on a daily basis, wouldn’t we be unstoppable? What can the future hold for us if we face our minds and enter into their deepest, most hidden areas with a metaphorical vacuum cleaner and remove all that holds us captive and makes us unable to reach our full potential?

I have already taken the first step by studying Psychology, so with determination and courage I believe that I will be able to take the final steps needed in order to accomplish my dream in the near future.

Paula

Vocabulary

prestige (n) ? the respect that someone or something gets for being successful or important
morph (v) ? to change gradually and completely from one thing into another (usually in a way that is surprising or that seems magical)
vulnerable (adj.) ? easily hurt or harmed physically, mentally, or emotionally
tug (n) ? a strong pulling force
traumatized (adj.) ? to be very upset in a way that often leads to serious emotional problems
metaphorical (adj.) ? when a word or phrase for one thing is used to refer to something else in order to show that they are similar; symbolic