Love this and very much needed! Thank you for sharing and putting your story out there. All too often I feel like this. 25 yrs as a LCSW throughout that time doing many things. I always feel in the middle. Not specifically drawn to one style or theory. Maybe it’s my neurodivergence? Maybe? Or am I even? What I know is the feels of imposter syndrome can be crippling. Some competitive place where more certifications are “needed” or “collected.” Learning is great, but I can feel like I don’t know anything. When will I arrive? You voiced a permission to be ok with likening many things, working in many areas, tension of opposites that somehow felt wrong. But it all can coexist. My wanting so bad to break free of old thinking the constant cognitive fatigue and performance. To just let go of the false sense of safety in search of the next thing that will point to “it.” There’s no right time or true I arriving point.
I realize as I come up on 50 next year I’m at my Middle Passage. Standing at a threshold of change. I need to let go of the rope...trusting my process. I apologize for rambling on... Hardly ever do I share. Much gratitude...from one who’s been pretty lost lately.
Hi Kim. Thanks so much for your response. I'm glad you enjoyed my thoughts and that it helped a little.
I have had a number of people respond to this post who are, like you and I, around 50 and questioning who we are, what we're doing and whether what we're doing is what's best for us and our role in the world. I have a hunch that it's driven by that milestone birthday and a sense that we have more career behind us than ahead of us and we want to make this next decade count.
That doesn't, of course, help take the pressure off though does it?
I feel like I might slowly be coming through the other side but gosh it's been hard and taken a lot of inner work, reflection, conversation, writing. All the things we know work but we (I?) still underestimate the psychological effort required. From the questions you pose I sense that you're somewhere on the same journey. Keep going! Follow your curiosity. Slowly release expectations. Do the work. You've got this x
This is great! As a practicing Clinical Psychologist of many years who no longer works as one , I often flounder in “am I still a psychologist then?” I love your ‘dizziness of freedom’ term. Going to use that one :) Thanks for sharing!
Wonderful! I especially love the nugget of "sitting with unpredictability and allowing life’s paths to disentangle themselves as I walk."
Thanks Bea!
Love this and very much needed! Thank you for sharing and putting your story out there. All too often I feel like this. 25 yrs as a LCSW throughout that time doing many things. I always feel in the middle. Not specifically drawn to one style or theory. Maybe it’s my neurodivergence? Maybe? Or am I even? What I know is the feels of imposter syndrome can be crippling. Some competitive place where more certifications are “needed” or “collected.” Learning is great, but I can feel like I don’t know anything. When will I arrive? You voiced a permission to be ok with likening many things, working in many areas, tension of opposites that somehow felt wrong. But it all can coexist. My wanting so bad to break free of old thinking the constant cognitive fatigue and performance. To just let go of the false sense of safety in search of the next thing that will point to “it.” There’s no right time or true I arriving point.
I realize as I come up on 50 next year I’m at my Middle Passage. Standing at a threshold of change. I need to let go of the rope...trusting my process. I apologize for rambling on... Hardly ever do I share. Much gratitude...from one who’s been pretty lost lately.
Hi Kim. Thanks so much for your response. I'm glad you enjoyed my thoughts and that it helped a little.
I have had a number of people respond to this post who are, like you and I, around 50 and questioning who we are, what we're doing and whether what we're doing is what's best for us and our role in the world. I have a hunch that it's driven by that milestone birthday and a sense that we have more career behind us than ahead of us and we want to make this next decade count.
That doesn't, of course, help take the pressure off though does it?
I feel like I might slowly be coming through the other side but gosh it's been hard and taken a lot of inner work, reflection, conversation, writing. All the things we know work but we (I?) still underestimate the psychological effort required. From the questions you pose I sense that you're somewhere on the same journey. Keep going! Follow your curiosity. Slowly release expectations. Do the work. You've got this x
This is great! As a practicing Clinical Psychologist of many years who no longer works as one , I often flounder in “am I still a psychologist then?” I love your ‘dizziness of freedom’ term. Going to use that one :) Thanks for sharing!