Therapy

In three more days, Dave will be permanently, forever done with taking classes. Hooray! Next it's an internship and a dissertation, then...who knows. A "real job." (What does that mean, anyway? I think it has something to do with having an income...)

This has caused me to think about how I value David's chosen career field: marriage and family therapy. I love David's field. I think it's selfless, necessary, and Christlike. I put its importance on an equal plane with that of life-saving health care. A doctor saves a life, and a therapist helps make that life worth living. I love therapy, and I'm serious about that. I wish I could go to therapy annually for the rest of my life. I think virtually all people--even the healthiest people I know--could benefit from seeing a therapist. Therapists help you figure out how you can make your life even better. Who doesn't want that?

Therapy doesn't discriminate. It can help a homeless drug addict, a horribly abused child, the child abuser, as well as the most affluent, seemingly perfect person on the block. And everyone in between.

The experiences I've had in therapy (which have been several) have always left me a better, more whole person. I think taking therapy seriously requires an astonishing amount of courage and perseverance, because it means looking at whatever is most painful in your life and little by little, tackling it head-on. It's tiring. Exhausting sometimes. And it's so enlightening. And healing, and edifying, and eventually, peaceful.

So to David I say: I love you. I'm proud of you. I'm excited for your big landmark of finishing so many years of classes. I respect what you do and all the work you've put into learning how to do it. Hooray for you!

And to everyone else I say: Anyone feel like going to therapy? :)