Beauty in the Journey...

I've actually had this particular blog since I was in my 1st semester of counseling in grad school. However, due to some formatting issues I couldn't figure out how to fix (surprise...I'm not great with computer related formatting issues), I decided to completely clear everything and start over again. So, here I sit, on a Saturday night, with a blank blog in front of me.

I guess I'll explain the title for this blog. As a counselor, I have the privilege to get a peek into someone's life, and play a small part in their journey of life. This journey includes pain, loss, joy, hope, laughter, and pretty much every emotion in between. It's no surprise that life is messy, chaotic, and crazy. I THINK THAT IS BEAUTIFUL. I think there's something beautiful in pain and sorrow, just as I find beauty in the joy and laughter. I think we learn to hope through the experiences we've had, and that hope follows us along our journey. Sometimes it feels like all we can do is hope for the future to get here quickly. The journey is beautiful. I get to see that beautiful journey not only in my life, but in the lives of my family, friends, and each client I come in contact with throughout the week.

My own journey so far has been completely crazy and unpredictable. There's been more laughter, joy, amazing experiences, pain, and sorrow then I could have imagined. When I entered grad school, I had no intention of being involved in research, and especially of doing a thesis. That was one of the things furthest from my mind. However, a crazy twist in my journey led to spending almost 40 hours doing research every week, and being the 1st person in my program to do a thesis. This thesis was on health & wellness of the individual, and through my research I began to learn and grow.

Sometimes I think we expect health and wellness in our life to occur naturally. However, this is absolutely not true. For health and wellness to exist, there needs to be an intentional and active focus on it. A huge part of my journey right now is trying to increase wellness in areas of my life as I adjust from being a student to being a Counselor and Speaker.