As the end of college approaches and I'm starting to fill out applications for grad school, the thought of the real world and all of its responsibilities is imminent. It's around the time of the year when you see relatives and friends from high school that you may not talk to often and they ask the dreaded question, "what are you going to do after college?"
To this question, I always reply that I want to be a social worker. People's reactions usually consist of a head tilt to one side, a look of curiosity, and the question, "why? Don't you know that you'll be burned out before your life has even really started?" Sometimes you can even get the sympathetic head nod and them saying, "oh, that's nice," if they're not trying to offend you but don't necessarily agree with what you're saying. To be honest, I'm not sure which reaction is worse.
I had a great childhood growing up, but that doesn't mean there were definitely rough patches I experienced that most kids may not. My heart aches with the idea of what the lives of other kids might be like: kids who are neglected by their parents, children who are beaten in their foster homes, or kids that are bounces around throughout the system that they're not even sure which way is up or what is right. If I can be a person that changes a life like that for even just one person, then I want to. I also want to be helpful to people who are abused by their partners and need someone to talk to, someone to help them escape their abuser, and be the reason that they are living a better life.
I've seen my friends struggle through many things. Eating disorders, depression, anxiety, OCD, self-harm, etc. I myself have had a share fair of these struggles, too. What makes me happy is when my friends come to me for help because they know they can trust me. It brightens my day when they say that they know they can depend on me. And I'm the happiest when I see my friends getting better and living better lives, and loving themselves the way I love them.
Do I worry about burnout? Of course. But I also believe that I will wake up and go to work and truly love what I do. And if I can be happy with that, then I don't see myself crashing and burning before I'm 35.
What I want to be when I grow up is an emotional superhero. I want people to trust me and depend on me. I want to know I've made lives better. I hope that I can have clients and help them realize their potential and their worth. I don't care about money—the value of my work would be seeing improvements in people who thought they might be at a dead end with no other options. It may be cliché and naïve, but I truly want to change the world. If other people could love themselves the way I love them, then the world would be a better place.
