Are Challenges Associated With Work Or School Becoming Increasingly Difficult To Manage?
Do you struggle with finding purpose in your schooling or career? Does a sense of dread make it impossible to get motivated for school or work every day? Are outside pressures preventing you from making strides to determine what you might like to do with your education or profession?
Perhaps you are a young professional or recent graduate who has become disappointed by the job prospects you thought you would encounter after completing a rigorous education. Or maybe you are an established professional, but you’re beginning to feel stuck in an unfulfilling job that you feel you can not leave for any number of reasons.
Alternatively, you may be a parent who has noticed your middle or high school-aged child has experienced setbacks related to learning disabilities or peer conflict, such as cyberbullying or social isolation. Your child may not be thriving in the school environment, and their academic performance may be falling short as a result.
Regardless of what age you or your child may be, school and career challenges can have stressful impacts that can lead to peer or family conflict, or perhaps emotional withdrawal. A sense of failure can be present when you feel unable to meet the expectations of yourself or others, and identifying the purpose of your life may feel out of reach. You may feel that if you could just find a secure job that you love or figure out a way to manage the stress associated with school, a sense of happiness and fulfillment would be more obtainable.
While the pressures surrounding your profession or education may be difficult to manage, it is possible to find renewed purpose in these areas of your or your child’s life. The perspectives of the trained therapists at New Beginnings Psych can help.
Outside Pressures And Expectations Cause Confusion About What We Want Out Of Life
We are conditioned from a young age to meet the standards created by society, our parents, and ourselves. Often, we are given the consistent message that if we do well in school, we will be accepted into our preferred college, naturally obtain a secure and well paying job, and that the completion of this process will pave the way for long lasting fulfillment. However, reality is so much more complex than that, and it is easy to feel unhappy or as though we have failed because we are not satisfied with the way that our lives turned out.
At the beginning of this narrative, school tends to be one of the first major stressors of a child’s life. As kids, we are expected to constantly behave and succeed in school. We may grapple with social isolation from a young age, further inhibiting our self-esteem. As we make our way through the journey of elementary and middle school, we are slowly being groomed by parents, teachers, and society at large to be successful. And success rarely strays from the trajectory of going to a rigorous college before securing a high-paying job in a competitive field.
Even if we make it through the demands of school, being subjected to the job market can be disheartening. We may have been led to believe that our field of study would be lucrative or fulfilling, simply to find that entry-level positions in our field are low-paying, rudimentary, or not as promising as we had thought. Even if we did manage to secure an excellent job in our twenties or thirties, we may have outgrown its potential and yet simultaneously feel cemented to the position due to the benefits, job security, and long-term pension plan it offers. Our spouse or parents may be unsympathetic to a career change out of fear that we will not be able to support our families, and the cycle of restrictive expectations continues.
The truth is that other options exist that can lead to great purpose, fulfillment, and an increase in self-affirmation. While deciding to make a change in school or a career may require some negotiating with your spouse, your family, and yourself, counseling at New Beginnings Psych can guide you in initiating that conversation.
Counseling Can Help You Find Resolutions To School & Career Challenges
Therapy can help you to identify your needs and wants while providing a sense of permission to do the things that you enjoy in life. At New Beginnings Psych, we are invested in locating your strengths and abilities, whether you or your child are confronting issues at school or whether you yourself are working through career challenges. In taking inventory of your strengths, we can help you determine where your skillset meets your interests and how you might engage those interests either in the context of work or school.
If you are an adult seeking career guidance, we can help you to assess where your emotional and financial needs meet in the context of a profession. In doing so, you will be more able to remove the self-limiting beliefs about what you can and can not accomplish while demonstrating more assertiveness with the people in your life who are less encouraging of a change in career.
If, on the other hand, you or your child is a student, our therapists and counselors can assist you in finding the gratifying aspects of school that capitalize on your talents and interests. Our team can help you to recognize and acknowledge that school does not have to be constant drudgery and hardship; there can be joy and purpose in learning. We will aid you in setting a plan so that you can get through school and reach your individual goals.
Regardless of your age, once we have identified your goals and interests, we will work to understand what is preventing you from pursuing them. In breaking down each perceived challenge attached to the specific decision you want to make in your life, we will help you to see that you have more control over your choices than your fears do. Whether it’s making a professional decision that goes against the wishes of your spouse or coming to a resolution that goes against the expectations of your parents or society at large, we will help you to prepare for and work through challenging conversations.
In doing so, you will enhance your communication skills so that you can verbalize what you want out of your career or education, whether that means asking for a raise at work, asking for help at school, or learning how to assert needs and wants to your loved ones. Over time, your confidence will be built in such a way that you will not only know what you are good at, but you will also believe that your dreams are worth pursuing. Once you have more clarity, you can look forward to your day and week while being better able to manage the stress associated with work or school.
At New Beginnings Psych, we believe that fulfillment lies in going after what you want out of life—and you are worth going after it.
Perhaps you are considering counseling for challenges related to a career or school, but you have some questions…
I or my child does not have the time to invest in school or career counseling.
Therapy is a scheduled time for you or your child every week to devote to the important work of self-growth and understanding. If you or your child struggles with being unable to communicate your needs, symptoms related to anxiety or depression, or a lack of fulfillment in general, there may be an underlying school or career challenge at play. Investing time in therapy or counseling each week now will save you time in the future from trying to identify the areas of your life that lack meaning or enrichment.
I do not have the money to invest in school or career counseling for myself or my child.
There is no price tag on mental health! If you or your child is struggling with challenges related to work or school, therapy is a great opportunity to unpack those struggles and find meaningful resolutions to them. If you invest the resources into therapy, you can thrive in the long term and ultimately save money by having confidence in your needs and wants now.
I am afraid I will not like the outcome of what I find in exploring my school or career challenges.
Change can be a scary prospect, especially if you have been conditioned to believe that success only comes in one specific form. It may be revealed to you through counseling that you are unsatisfied with your career or unmotivated to pursue the goals that were set for you by others. However, clarity in that will save you from challenges in the future, as you develop a better understanding of what your strengths are and how they can be applied in the context of school or a career, and in your life in general.
Find Empowerment To Make Your Own Decisions About Work Or School
If you or your child is struggling to thrive in yours or their career or school environment, counseling at New Beginnings Psych can help to provide perspective and resolutions. For more information about our team or to schedule your first appointment, please contact us.