Why are you pursuing your career of choice? Do you feel youve adequately researched this avenue?

Molly B

 

I am pursuing my career of choice because I have always wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. This all started when I told my mom I did not want presents for my sixth birthday but would rather collect donations to be given to various local charities. My brother followed soon after me and began donating his birthday money to our local zoo because he wanted to be a zoo keeper someday. My next experience with changing lives came from going on local and international mission trips (these were my absolute favorite). The joy and humility that I experienced during these trips always left me feeling like I had actually done something good. These trips were always very emotional for the missionaries and the people we were helping, especially so during our trips to Guatemala where we worked in an orphanage (I still facetime the kids there and we read books and sing songs together since there are no mission trips due to COVID).

 

My most recent experience with helping someone has been a life changing one: becoming a godmother. I became a mentor for a young woman in my neighborhood after her mother asked me to help her through a challenging time in her life: she had fallen into gang relationships. She had been diagnosed as having Bipolar Disorder and struggled with forming bonds with others. A few years after we became connected in 2016, she found out that she was pregnant. I remained her mentor during her entire pregnancy; encouraging her to finish high school, apply for college, and find a job to help support her baby. She asked me to be her sons Godmother, which is the thing I am most proud of in my life. This experience inspired me to enter into this field in order to help those who are struggling similar to my godson and his mother.

 

Overall, I knew that the career I wanted to pursue had to involve working directly with people in various stages of need. This is when I feel like God is using me and my gifts the most. It is where I feel most happy and most passionate. I am hoping to start my own therapy practice where I hope to use animal assisted therapy to promote healing and growth for my patients. I am hoping to work with at-risk teenagers and young adults, similar to my godson’s mother. When I was in careers where I lacked passion (such as working in a restaurant or retail), it made going to work very draining. There were often days when I would dread waking up and going to work. However, when I am doing mission work or helping others, I never feel this dread or sadness about having to work because it does not feel like work.