That's it, I'm blogging it out!

Break has treated me well. I feel like myself again and am slowly beginning to realize that I will be back to the grueling schedule in about a week. But I am ready to dig in. In my spare time, I have read up on my own interests (Alan Watts, Dr. Bruce Perry-"The Boy who was Raised as a Dog".)

I've also been on a spiritual quest. Verbalizing my thoughts on religion vs. spirituality in terms of raising children with a moral backbone has led me to try to find a real way to define, engage and expand my spirituality, which mainly will involve nature, rhythm, cycles, and freethinking, enter: Alan W. Watts. I just don't like organized religion. I think religion has no place in spirituality because it is so indoctrinated and laced with politics. Why should politics and FEAR and admonishment and oppression go into my life lessons, my cathartic release, my essence, my unity, my spirit? It's mad.
Christianity is used to marginalize, to take strong written words misinterpreted to justify convicting people as less than, wrong or evil, and mainly, it misses the point of life on earth, every second, every day because it views life as a means to an end. I want my spirituality to allow me to find simple joys in life, to see good in people, to appreciate nature, the cosmos, love, breath, family, and so on. I feel like it is something that has always been with me, and is ready to blossom and take a strong part in everything I do. I'm looking for a mind, body and soul connection, and I suspect that some eastern philosophy would resonate with me. I've been going to yoga a lot and plan to use it as my exercise/stress release.

The more I think about social work, the more I am happy that this is the choice I've made. I had debated throughout the first semester whether or not I was settling, but I feel I have made the right choice. SW allows room for change and growth, it allows for freethinking and respect and acceptance. It doesn't pigeonhole you to one staunch theory that holds a mold to people. At New School, I thought I wanted to be a Freudian analyst, and though the principles are important and sometimes applicable, I'm finding that SW theory suits my eclectic nature. PhD's in Psychology don't often start their internships until the last year or two of study, and SW's foundation is in getting face time immediately. By the time the clinical license roles around, you have had as much or more supervised time as a clinician that a psych PhD does, and that is what matters. So I think it's unreasonable to say that a SW is less qualified or, how dare you, UNDERqualified.

The study has been wonderful. It's like a meld of sociology, social anthropology, psychology, policy, human behavior and practice theory. It has tickled so many new intellectual bones and sparked so many intellectual tangents and bouts of self-awareness. This is why I hope to blog more, so that I can look back and see how much I have grown. My confidence has waxed and waned, but I feel ultimately the better for it all. It's a nice journey to be on, and I'm glad that life has taken me here. My one wish for SW is that they can turn around their reputation so that people can understand the breadth of the work and knowledge within us.