FOMO for Knowledge. CMHC vs MSW vs. PsyD. vs. Psychiatrist. Working on 80/20.

 I suppose I should do a little bit of waking life catch up. And I haven't been keeping track carefully of how many posts I am behind, so this one's just to be extra certain I'm caught up.

Classes have started up, and I've probably mentioned. I am again faced with the challenge of how much work to actually do, for my classes. There is a lot of work that is not worthwhile. There is also a lot that becomes worthless, when I try and cram it all together. Reading dense texts, for instance. There is only so much of that I can profitably do in a day. After a certain point, it is a bit like a teacup that has been overfilled, an additional tea is just pouring over the sides. However, I think it's even worse than that, as rather than keeping anything, it all kind of gets jumbled together into meaninglessness.

I think maybe something similar to what I did during my crunch time last semester, where I set aside a good but manageable chunk of time each day for reading, so I'm chipping away at it in manageable chunks, and actually retaining what I read. That, paired with ruthlessly skimming readings that don't seem to have much value.

I have FOMO when it comes to knowledge, I don't want anything to escape my grasp, but this is a fruitless approach, as there is infinite information. My new approach is to let my curiosity, interest and intuition guide me, in what I read deeply.

For assignments as well, I tend to do a good job on them, even when the learning I'm getting from them is negligible. I need to check in regularly, as I'm doing the assignment, and ask myself the question: is this actually helping me become a better counselor? If not, I need to let go a little bit of my standards. Not totally, but let go of the 80% extra work that is only giving me the 20% results. Classes have been fine, but nothing special. As I keep reading, it does seem like Clinical Mental Health Counselor is the least common of Psychologist, Social Worker, Counselor, Psychiatrist. It does make me question my choice a little, from a pragmatic, get a job perspective, but from what I've heard and read, it really should be fine, finding work with that degree.

OK, gotta go to my next meeting! And then to my Outdoor, Nature, and Adventure class. Where maybe the people teaching it don't know that much about it, since they are bringing in guest speakers for almost all the classes...