If you don't love it, don't live it

I wish I loved to counsel.  I'm pretty good at it and it makes me happy to be helpful to others, but I do not love it and would therefore not be ultimately happy with it as a profession.  I listen well and am good at observing body language, tone, and timing...but I am more, by nature, a problem solver. that is not, however, something that is super useful to everyone.  I love nothing more than to outline a nice strategy or attack plan to tackle some huge obstacle and make it rue the day it tried to mess with your life, but most people do not want someone to help them solve their problem...in a lot of cases(especially with females) they are completely aware of an adequete solution. No, most people just want someone to listen to them...to validate them. To hear their story, their concerns, and to agree or empathize with what the situation means for them.

These are not the only modes of counsel of course. There is affirmative counseling. Some people just need a confidence boost or a confirmation that they aren't crazy or alone. Its always nice to hear someone tell you why you are worth it whether its solicited or not...it makes you feel a bit more valuable.  There is yet another form, and that is called inverse counseling. That is where you are listening to someone who sounds soo hopeless...soo self destructive...so unchangable that it causes you to take a look at some of the things in your own life that really arent that bad comparatively, or are in need of change.

Reasons I don't feel like counseling also include:

• I feel like it would be odd to ask for money for helping
• Some people whine too much...and there's no guarantee I wouldn't just tell them so
• I want my advice to be completely accurate...which is something you can't do as well outside of close friendships
• It would ultimately kill me because I would give and give and give until I had nothing left even for myself...and I wouldn't realize till I stopped breathing
• I would have to go back to school and unlearn all the stuff I already know how to do
• Some people are beyond help from others and trying to counsel them is just plain irritating

If I loved doing it, then my mind and body would be much more adequetely suited to handle that kind of outside stress. Don't get me wrong, I have the capacity and ability to do it...I just am not certain that I would be able to sustain it into my later years. So really even though I would undoubtedly enjoy helping others in a full-time fashion, it would probably drive me insane after a good while and who knows if my pension would cover the shock treatments.