8 January 2024 - 28 January 2024
Hello, my friends! After graduating, my next step has been to recover from feeling absolutely burnt out! So, one of my new mottos has become not to do anything I don't have to do. And even so, I've still been doing some things I don't technically "have to" do, such as continuing to work on and build up my YouTube channel and learning Korean, but I've allowed myself not to feel guilt for "doing nothing" or "unproductive" things. Well, as part of this motto, I've decided to change from writing weekly to monthly, just recapping the highlights at the end of each month to simplify things. And as time goes on, if I feel like writing more, I will, but for now, this will be a good change of pace. Coming up next is... I'm finishing up working at the sign shop this next week and then will quit and begin studying for my exam, which I booked for March 16th. I'll keep taking off those two days each week to put in some solid study hours and prep for the exam. I'm confident that once I buckle down and go through the study program, I will be just fine and will pass the exam. I did so well on the GRE, and have a history of doing well on exams, so it will go smoothly; I just have to put in the hours, which I will in February and the beginning of March. Then, after I take the exam, I will reassess where I'm at with clients and see if I need to pick up a second site to get more clients so I can make a liveable wage and also get more client hours to count towards full licensure. Until then, I'm not going to worry about not having a lot of clients or making much money. So, in theory, I have a pretty balanced schedule for these next few months. The main thing I am working on is my confidence in sessions because for whatever reason, I become very uncertain when working with the parents of children, and I need to express more confidence in myself and what I am doing, because my work truly is valuable, so I don't know why I act like it isn't. So, this past month, we had some fun FHE activities. We had an info-mercial contest of random retro objects, such as spam, aprons, a sewing machine, garbage bags, etc. and it was SO funny! It was a great time. I also started attending the live Zoom reviews that Diane Gehart holds once a month for the MFT exam. I went to my friend Jessy's bridal shower, which had really good food and a cute flower-crown-making station. I also had breakfast at the gluten-free bakery with my friend Abby who got back from a semester in Washington DC, which was super fun! I also had a Korean night with my two friends Therese and Courtlynn. Zoey came too, and we went to the Asian market and bought snacks, then went back to their apartment and watched the first episode of Goblin. I have started attending stake choir practice for the upcoming easter performance, and we have some super awesome songs we are learning! I've already invited lots of coworkers and friends to come to it! I spent a week being sick, so that made me slow down even more and take better care of myself. I decided to apply for FSY this summer! It'll likely be the last summer I can do it, so I wanted to give it a shot, plus I'd love to be able to travel to cool places and meet lots of cool and fun people! I've been working on my own mental health and expectations about counseling and the role of my own spirituality in my work, and I have discovered how much I love intertwining God's gospel into every aspect of my life, so spending almost a year trying to "separate" that from my therapy work was harmful to my mental/emotional health, and I'm now starting to integrate those two sides of myself. I had a very helpful discussion with my supervisor Michele and with another LDS therapist, Jonathan. I officially got released from my stake calling, which was a huge relief, because I was feeling so overwhelmed having that on top of being called to help Elder Anderson fulfill his assignment given by the prophet and apostles to plan and hold a YSA AZ Regional Conference. Plus I still have a ward calling as being on the FHE planning committee. My mom threw our grandpa a surprise birthday party, Hawaiian Luau themed, and Amanda and Matthew even flew down for it, so it was the first time in a couple of years that all five of his children were together! We tricked him and told him the set-up was for a YSA activity, and then when all the family showed up, we hid and got him outside and jumped out and surprised him. He did not even really know how to respond. He was shocked to see everyone. We played some games and ate delicious food! Everyone had a great time. I have a lot of new clients coming my way, mostly kids, so I am brushing up and deepening my knowledge of play therapy and working with kids! Well, those are the highlights so far... catch ya next month!
Much love,
Emily Burnham
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