I get all sorts of questions from people wondering why on earth I would choose this profession where I sit with folks in their questions, pain, and experiences. The barest truth is that the profession chose me. As I participated in the Education for Ministry program at St. At the time, I had just trotted into my thirties and had my second child. As I grappled with the mapping exercise, three truths emergedβ I loved being with people and hearing their stories, wrestling with the intersection of religion and sex, and my experience in couples therapy.
Through the exercise, I recognized that joy always bubbled to the surface starting as a child in St. Paul, VA when I was with people one-on-one or in small groups, hearing about their fears, wounds, and hopes for what could be. Being with people and listening to their stories breathes life into me! As I became a young adult and went to UVA religious studies major in the house! The magnitude of the open space created for me by the nurse practitioner has stuck to my bones. As a brand new adult, I felt free to say and share in the off-white, clinical room with this near stranger, who made me feel safe.
Afterward, I sporadically thought I should or could become a doctor or a midwife. The longing to build the expansive space for others began to permeate my being. After college, I had a career in nonprofits, got married, had a baby, and then, as the story goes, my marriage hit a monumental crisis.
And my gosh, to my shock β after hours of arduous work, we found our stable ground again. It is not hyperbole to write that our couples therapist saved our relationship by inviting us into a space where we could each become softer and more empathetic toward one another. I want to survive my life without becoming numb. I want to speak and comprehend words of wounding without having these words become the landscape where I dwell. I want to possess a light touch that can elevate darkness to the realm of the stars.
The joy mapping exercise excavated the threads of truth woven throughout my life. I love being in the nitty gritty.
