Day 28: From Psychiatrist to Veteran Psychologist

How about that future? While I went to go visit some good friends for the last time before they move out of town, I came across thinking about my future again. Which is not so bad to be thinking about your future, nice to keep those creative juices flowing. Here is how my process of determining my future started. When I was in high school I had gone to Puerto Rico to visit my family and anytime I get to see them is a pleasure. Yet when you do not see family for a long time, they get curious and one of the questions that is never failed to be asked is, "Que vas hacer despues de la escuela?" (What are you going to do after you finish school). At least at that time I had an idea usually I would just shy away and avoid the question as a whole. Well my uncle who is a General Family Doctor asked me that one day I was sitting outside enjoying the sun and breeze. In which I had replied that I wanted to be a psychologist. I was starting to get into psychology because I already knew I wanted to help people in some way and I could picture myself doing that for a good portion of my life. I felt so confident in my answer until my uncle throws in the idea that I should become a psychiatrist instead. This was way before I knew about medicine taking care of the mentally sick so as naive I could be for a fifteen year old I said okay.

Well towards the end of my high school career, I had lost a great friend because of medicine that was used to take care of her emotions. And you know it was not so much how I was treated because of how the medicine changed her behavior but the fact that I was there from the start and saw how the medicine changed her completely from someone I could read from the back of my hand to someone I couldn't find the words to tell her. I am not going to go into much detail but that is when I realized that I cannot go into medicine. I cannot live with myself knowing that if I gave someone medicine to control their mood and they went through the same difficult transition of having their neurotransmitters and or hormones altered, I would probably not be able to forgive myself. Which brings me in to as I went to apply for college. I decided to stay as a psychology major and find another way I can help people without having to handle medicine. I am a strong believer of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which is therapy to help shape or mold unhealthy behaviors into better behaviors by implementing problem solving techniques and ways of coping with the situation that the person is going through. I rather sit down with my patient and speak to them but I will not be prescribing medicine, I will refer them to a psychiatrist if needed but that is the most that I will do for them in that case.

Throughout my first year of college I had two fields of psychology in mind to specialize in, Clinical or Counseling. Which these fields are more or less in the same ball park because in Clinical it is more research based on mental illness or like the alterations of function of the mind while Counseling you have more of the hands on experience of diagnosing patients. At least that is what I think, these are not the formal terms but for the sake of this blogpost I'm going to keep it casual. So I have gotten myself involved in research to learn more about the different fields of psychology to see if there was something that I was missing out that I would probably like to consider as I get closer to graduate school. And if my lab mentor is reading this she is going to be happy, but I have found Human Factors psychology to be an interesting field. It was not until I got to college that I found out what Human Factors psychology was and I like to refer to this field as like the engineering of psychology. There is just so many fascinating researches happening at my university in this field and I am constantly hearing about The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and how big of role Human Factors play. Sometimes even I want to fangirl and I am probably the one that is least interested in comparison with my lab mates.

Then I had a conversation with my oldest brother who has already graduated from college about how my classes were going and I do not remember clearly what I had written on Facebook but we got to the topic of Veteran Psychologist. I imagined myself being a Veteran Psychologist and the idea of being one is not bad at all. Growing up as a military kid, I am familiar with veteran hospitals so to picture myself working at one, I do not think it would be a bad idea. I would also be giving back to the veterans and I may also get benefits for working with the government so that would be another thing that I would not have to worry about. I know that I am may be potentially placing myself in a difficult path because of possible stories from these veterans but I am still willing to give it a go. Who knows what I will learn from that experience if I decide to settle with this route in the future.

Overall my love for psychology has only grown in abundance and I am excited about learning more of what other fields of psychology has to offer before having to make my final decision for grad school! I also want to add that you can always change your future, you do not have to settle down with your childhood career or with someone else's idea of who you should be if you do not want to. Figuring out your future is a process that constantly needs work so please do not expect that it is going to come with a snap of a finger or with a rub of a lamp (trust me I tried and it sadly did not work). You take the time your need to plan out what you want to take with this life that we are given. I doubt anyone has their life completely planned out from start to finish so do not be afraid to try new things and to enjoy the ride as you figure out what you want to accomplish and become!

What career do you have in mind?

xx Chavelita

Day 10: Future psychologist

Throughout the time I was in high school in the back of my mind I already had the idea of becoming a psychologist. Maybe even younger I wanted to become a psychologist I just didn't know that there was an actual profession to what I wanted to do. Now what specialty I wanted to be in the psychology field that I spent quite some time considering which one best fit me but I had this feeling that I was meant to be a psychologist. In my nature I wanted to help people in someway and what I have learned that simply using my words I was able to gain the trust of people and assist them without making them feel pressured or uncomfortable to tell me. Do not get me wrong if I had a choice to speak or not, I wouldn't be talking. Yet with psychology it gives me a reason to speak even more so to talk and express new ideas that may be beneficial for others. Talking to people may seem like a job that anybody can do but you have to be careful with your word choice. You have to be tactful, considerate, and be as unbiased as you can with your patience to be able to get the most genuine information that you can. This is probably why I had plenty of people tell me that being a psychologist is a job everyone wants to do that is easy or when people are not sure what they want to do as career. So in other words, I was getting this idea that being a psychologist was kind of like this place holder to buy more time to figure out the desired career. Yet, psychology is my desired career... I do not see myself doing anything else other than making a profession in psychology, a clinical psychologist to be more specific. To work along side a psychiatrist and learn more about mental disorders, even if I may spend the rest of my life researching new information and discovering new topics of human behavior through studies, that I wouldn't mind doing. Learning about the human behavior and the mind is intriguing and since psychology is probably one of the youngest sciences to be learning from, then that still opens up to the endless amount of knowledge that we may not know yet.

With my fear of blood and my lack of not thinking on the spot, being a doctor or a nurse was already out of the question. Coming from a family of nurses, I appreciate my mom's and my uncles' career as a nurse and I understand that it takes patience and strength but that was just not my calling. On the other hand I had a uncle on my dad's side that suggested that I should become a psychiatrist, learn medicine and treat people who is struggling through that form. Though my plan did not include medicine and I understand that I will learn that different medicines to use and the recommended dosages but I do not see myself writing prescriptions to medicines that I may not even believe in. I wouldn't be able to live with myself to be paid a bit more to promote medicine from companies for medicine that completely changes the individual. Medicine may work in some cases, do not get me wrong, but I still see medicine as a last resort in treating people. I am pretty sure there are plenty of alternatives to treat mental disorders, we just haven't discovered it yet. 

What is your dream career?

xx Chavelita

If you can visit, YOU SHOULD!

Before I start I just want to hands down thank my mom for driving five to six hours to take me to Texas Tech University. Texas Tech University is my first choice after all and before I wanted to settle down it was a must to know what I was getting myself into. By invitation, Texas Tech invited me to Connect Tech, a new program they have started a couple of years back for the admitted students to get the gist of how the campus life is. I did not regret going in fact I actually reserved my room and have my own meal plan! I feel excited, scared, and curious all at the same time because steps like these means that it will soon become a reality. I am getting goosebumps just thinking of my future college life. Alright enough of that I want to show you a few of the many pictures I took while I visited Texas Tech during the weekend.

The Student Union Building, which personally I felt like I was at a mini mall there was so many stores, restaurants, and hang out places. I doubt there will be a moment where I run out of things to do in there!

The side view of the Student Union Building, I thought it was nice how the hang out place had a wall of windows for natural light to come out and to be able to still be connected with the outside.

If you do not know me by now, I am a book enthusiast. I am open to read any book that is recommended to me so this statue I came across when I was on the way to the library can we say that he is like the spirit animal of bookworms? I think we can!

This is the library where I can already feel like most of my time will be invested in here. The structure of this building appears to be a cross between looking like a beehive and like a musical theater.

Outside of the campus, I keep comparing this campus like a small town within the city. For me I was mesmerized with the view. Yes the trees do not have leaves at the moment but just picture it with leaves and the grass being a little bit greener. Any piece of nature is good enough for me.

*GASP* It's the tall building that appeared on the front cover of my folder that my acceptance letter came in!! How lovely to have come across you!

I really adore the architectural work behind these building, I was dragging my jaw on the floor while I was on the campus tour. 

*sigh* I cannot wait to come back. 

An Autistic research center? Texas Tech just keeps surprising me... 

The Psychology building in which I will probably be spending most of my time in the future as I retrieve my Bachelor's in Science in Psychology.

Do not be upset that I did not show you more pictures but I will be going back to campus for orientation in June and in August to move into my dorm so this is just the sneak peek to what to expect! By the title of this blogpost, I highly recommend that if you are interested in a university or college, that you should go visit. Nothing is more securing than feeling for yourself of the atmosphere of the campus such as the type of people there, the community among students and faculty, looking at the potential dorms that you may be living in during the semester, their education structure and of course the food.

As a new fellow Red Raider, Wreck 'Em!

xx Chavelita

The secret of knowledge

Right now I'm currently researching for my two papers one of them is on the Soviet Union's economy during the Second World War and my other one is on psychology on the physiological behavior of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. And let me tell you, I have this weird love for old books. The smell of the books, little notes left by previous readers, the texture of the pages, it's as if they tell their own story beside the ones of their content. If they are hardcover with a simple background color the better because it doesn't distract the reader from judging the cover when there's no pictures in front or back. I could stay in a library the whole day if I was left alone, escaping within the vastness of literature, building up my knowledge, and finding out the secrets left within the pages of each book. Call me weird, but I'm quite excited to be starting college next fall of 2015 and hopefully with the preparations of IB will help lead into this transition. (I seriously need to find someone who is just as enthusiastic to learn and tell me random facts about what they found out..)

What do you want to do with your life when the time comes or what are you planning to major in? 

xx Chavelita