I remember starting my career as an aspiring psychologist some years ago, beginning the first semester of college with intense excitement and unwavering dedication. I studied five to six hours a day, avoided weekend getaways and gatherings, took seven or eight classes a semester, worked nonstop 24 hours a day, and avoided various other things I deemed distractions.

I became increasingly weak and tired of the perpetual striving for achievement in a very competitive field. I also became so weary that each waking moment was like pulling an elephant with a thin rope. My days were not filled with excitement anymore, but rather a sense of trepidation. I began to ask myself: Who am I? Who am I becoming? What is my ultimate purpose in life, in my profession, in my world? When will I ever have time to find out?

I pulled back and decided to do some introspection of my own life and life in general. I reserved specific times of the week solely for the incorporation of existential and spiritual elements into my life. I was then faced with the realities and the rawness of humanness. Through this I became familiar with myself; I developed a relationship with the essence of my being.

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