Do I need College or Career Help?
Chances are, if you stumbled onto this post, your curious about your college or career plans. Maybe you aren’t sure what major to pursue or maybe your evening thinking of changing a major at your current school. It can be tough to know how much of this is just part of becoming an adult and when it’s too much to go alone. Ask yourself the following questions to get more clarity.
Do I understand myself enough to trust my choices? If you find yourself in a cycle of rumination and overthinking about what to do next to the point where it is causing you to lose focus on other things, you might want a new perspective. Sometimes you can get this perspective from a teacher, parent or friend. Other times, you need a professional, outside perspective. By working with a career professional, you’ll gain access to new questions and a way to move out of a spiral with action steps forward.
Do I find myself unaware of the options that are out there? Many people in various career fields take the information they have gained over time for granted. They forget that they were once clueless about how to move forward. Sometimes, when we go to access information, it seems like someone skipped a step. A career or college professional can walk you through those areas so you feel like you have the information needed every step of the way.
Am I at constant odds with my family? College and career choices seem like an individual choice but we aren’t living on a desert island. Our lives are interwoven with our family, friends and community. Our choices have ramifications for the people that support us and that can make the process difficult. It can be helpful to have a third party step in, name the values that seem to be in conflict and help clients navigate a path forward. It’s especially important for professionals in this area to be culturally competent and offer a space free of judgement to meet the client and family where they are at.
While these are some of the reasons people chose to seek professional assistance, how you go about that can take many forms. You may have access to professional help through your school or college. You might also be able to work through some of these ideas with a therapist or even a family physician. Every situation is unique and if you start to name the actual problem, the solution will be in reach.
Stay curious!
