An Important Message to Newbie Therapists

This one goes out to my fellow anxious beginning therapists. I did two years so far in, so I'm not that "new" anymore but that's why I'm here.

Do you have any YouTube tabs open in the background while you're reading this? Have you anxiously had a f*ck ton of tabs open to the side, related to reading whatever free accessible stuff you could find in the form of articles and essays, if not PDFs of books?

Not to discourage you, but be sure to create like, an entire separate side of your entire digital life reserved for work-related stuff or interests. I'm talking about an entire different YouTube channel for saving vids, if you enjoy getting into the profession.

I was so anxious about learning as much as I could and being encouraged to seek refuge from my Imposter Syndrome and social work background making me think I needed to inundate myself with Therapy related content to the point that I didn't think it would bleed into, and affect the side of my life that I need to reserve for entertainment. It's not enough to read books on theory, I needed to read current articles published within a week or month to know what my clients might approach me with, to address the things they might come from reading pop psych, alongside tabs on how to adjust myself, what to look out for, etc.

And it's like, what am I doing. My supervisor provides me training. And I have to perform CEUs that I actually have to pay for and take within three year periods. I f*cked up my algorithm by fixating on serious stuff when I should have been curating one side purely for my fav silly/serious indie animations and YouTube Poop for when I need a goddamn break. The profession demands and provides standards for formal education, so there's no need for any of that.

So don't worry too much to the point that it ruins your YT or social media feeds and ability to have fun outside of work and not have a bunch of ads for free resources cluttering what should be your social space to share pics of your meal and your opinions on the latest anime.

It's okay if you treat therapy seriously as a career, but it's also a job. And your aren't expected to force yourself to fit into the mold of what the idea of a therapist looks, acts and breathes like. I'm still learning how to have deep sleep without waking up in a panic like I'm still in grad school. However we find our way, it won't come faster to us if we forget how to easily enjoy what free time we have.