Rebecca Falls , a geographic coordinator once stated, “One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another, is to listen to the issues of others.” One of the proudest accomplishments of my life was earning a bachelor’s degree, even though I came from a small town. Growing up as a role model in my community, I often heard, “Brianna can you give me advice about this or can you tell me how to handle this situation?”. Helping and giving advice to others is not something I like to do for my enjoyment, but it is something I enjoy doing to help others overcome their battles . Becoming a professional counselor means fulfilling my heart’s desire, quenching my intellectual curiosity and reconstructing my profession to a new level all at the same time. My determination to pursue the study of counseling on a professional level from an early curiosity that I had to learn about brain function.
Another prominent factor that sparked my interest in psychology was the fact that a friend of mine was misdiagnosed with a personality disorder and administered a treatment that turned her into a withdrawn lethargic before my eyes. The desire to help my friend was a great spark that ignited my passion for mental health issues. It is for these reasons I decided to continue my career in psychology. As an undergraduate student, I was a nursing major, and a psychology major. However, I had some health problems to occur that affect the career path I was trying to take. My professors, friends, and family have described me as a role model and inspired me to embrace psychology as a career because of my enthusiasm and my determination in the field.
One of the greatest things about this field is that it can be applied in most any situation, which truly makes it one of the most interesting subjects I have studied. I am amazed at how many theories and concepts, there are, all about how the mind works to shape people into what makes them. Higher education would not only give me a neutral, and a unique life experience, but it would allow me to explore, discover and venture into the world of psychology, a desire of mine for those misunderstood.
Diversity is important because it can make each of us special and grow as good people. How can you understand yourself if you have nothing different to compare it to? Diversity gives us the opportunity to see life from different angles. As we meet more people we see changes we want to make in ourselves and appreciate the best of who and what we are and what we can become. Psychology can be defined as the scientific study of the human mind and its function, especially those affecting behavior in giving context. Purdue University Global defines cultural diversity as the existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within society.
Diversity challenges us to question our beliefs and practices. It allows us to view ideas from a different perspective, and to grow. How often have you ever been certain, that you way of doing something was a perfect ideal, only to later find that there existed a more efficient method. Diversity brings out the best in people, business practices and art. If scientists didn’t collaborate with one another, progress would be slow. If musicians didn’t borrow techniques, music would be tedious. If business didn’t adopt different attitudes about women’s rights, rights of the disabled and so on, we’d have a one sided and exclusive economy, which in turn would greatly impact our bottom line.
When I think about psychology and cultural diversity I think that the mind and culture are inseparable and mutually constitutive, meaning that people are shaped by their culture and their culture is also shaped by them. I think it is ideal for a field such as psychology and counseling to understand culture and ethnicity to provide appropriate services. As an undergraduate student at The University of Alabama at Birmingham I could interact with students, professors, and employees of different culture, ethnicity, and race. I could build and maintain friendships with people of a different culture because I was enthused to learn more about their culture. I maintained those friendships because I accepted them for they were, and I respected their culture. One of my close friends I met while in college was from Mexico. However, we both spoke different languages. She was somewhat fluent in speaking English, but I had no idea how to speak Spanish. As our friendship progressed, we could educate each other on new words and more. Not only did we represent different cultures, but we both had different spiritual beliefs. My spiritual belief was identified as apostolic and her belief was identified as a Methodist.
Apostolic believes in salvation, in which they teach the need for conviction of sin, repentance, restitution, and confession for salvation. Like most churches within the Methodist tradition, they teach the possibility of a believer falling from grace. They differ from many evangelicals is the Pentecostal (Apostolic) teaching tongues as a sign of the Holy Spirit baptism and in their teaching that the ministry of the apostles and prophets should never cease in the Church age. Although these are two different beliefs we never discriminated against each other, we continued to respect each other and cherish our friendship. When we would discuss anything spiritual wise, we would put it in a form where we both could understand it. Deborah Cater once stated, “You have to taste a culture to understand it”, and I did just that.
Many first-year college students face problems or become stressed when they enter a new educational environment that is different from high school. Stress is something that influences many people every day. Life is full of hassles, deadlines, hindrance, and commands. For some people stress is so natural it is a way of life. It can increase the production of the hormone cortisol in your body cortisol increase blood pressure, blood sugar levels and contribute to weight gain. For me I tend to accomplish things better when I wait closer to the deadline but sometimes it can become stressful. Stress can also be harmful, such as memory problems, moodiness, aches and pains, and eating . However, when I am stressed my appetite tends to decrease. We live with it, deal with it, and above all have concerns about it.
The area in which we reside, the economy, employment, and schools can cause stress. Everyone doesn’t act with the same level of stress and there are numerous factors that can encounter our lives and cause an increase or decrease for stress levels. Per the American Psychological Association (APA), there are three types of stress; acute stress, episodic acute stress and chronic stress. Acute stress is a short-term stress and chronic stress is categorized as long-term stress. Episodic stress is when acute stress occurs frequently. During college, I faced several stressful obstacles but, because I was determined not to be defeated, I could overcome them. I hardly ever react to stressful events with emotions. Everyone has their own way of coping but when I am under stress I tend to go to the gym and workout or sing.
I hope that by sharing my activities and goals, I have could give you a glimpse into the person I am, things I have mastered and what I hope to accomplish. I have included what I have felt to be the most compelling and powerful influences on my career choice. I expect graduate school to continue to be a journey which I embark upon with great enthusiasm and devotion.
