Stories are Just Data With A Soul

Reading assignment before the first day of class? Mission accepted.

Paper weight. #resourceful #lifeofagradstudent #abnormalpsychology #dsmiv

Holy moly. It's arrived! How much bigger is the DSM-V going to be?! #lifeofagradstudent #counselingpsychology #dsmiv #dsm4 #mentaldisorders #psychopathology

The Myers-Briggs test is always eerily spot on. Good thing I've picked the right profession for an ISFP! #lifeofagradstudent #myersbriggs #licensedmentalhealthcounselor #psychology #isfp

I LOVE my city. #seattleskyline #westseattle #panoramic #alki #springtime #blueskies

-Classes this quarter: Psychopathology, and Research and Statistics. ...What were those tools I learned last quarter to reduce stress and anxiety?!!! Yes, I am already freaking out about my midterm and final exams. June can't get here fast enough.

You are worthy.

 As I begin my third quarter as a graduate student in Counseling Psychology, I've found the need to start documenting my journey. During my undergrad in Social Sciences, I felt a strong interest in a concept known as "intersectionality," which is essentially that place where all of our levels of identity intersect, to form who we are, and we can potentially find better understandings of self, if we can understand the impact of our many identities. We all have different understandings of who we are privately, publicly, and within differing relationships, but what guides our understanding is that place of intersectionality. We are never just one element of our identity. We are the culmination of our strengths and struggles. We are the result of whether or not we have made a decision to remain down, or to pick ourselves back up again. There is strength in realizing that we have the power to change our circumstances.  I preface my future thoughts with the hope that people will understand that I do not speak as any one separate part of my identity, nor do I speak as an expert in any of those categories; but I will always be the expert and author of my own story.