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“He makes it look soeasy!” “Her performance appears to beeffortless!” How many times have you had thoughts like these while watching someone complete a difficult task with grace and precision? One of the hallmarks of a true professional (in any category) is that they have overcome great challenges and used difficult experiences to perfect their performance. What everyone sees is a flawless demonstration that seems simple, but in reality, it took overcoming many hurdles to make it look easy.
Succeeding in thefield of psychologytakes time and dedicated effort. For those who stand at the bottom of a steep mountain of tasks to be completed, it may look like those who have already succeeded did in fact have it easy. But that is never true–there have always been challenges to those who have aspirations; they just aren’t obvious. We talked with 2 of our experts and asked them about the educational challenges they faced on the road to accomplishment.
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Támara Hill, MS, LPC-BE, is a counselor who works with parents, caregivers and troubled children. Her focus has been on children and their ability to function in all aspect of their lives, in spite of behavioral and mood disorders. Her work has received national as well as international recognition and is the topic of numerous articles and industry-related publications. Hill appears on radio broadcasts around the world and is the author of,Mental Health in a Failed American System: What Every Parent, Family and Caregiver Should Know. We talked with her about her educational journey and asked her to share any hurdles she might have experienced. Here is her answer:
Whenever asked why I waited a dozen years to go back to school for my master’s degree or what the greatest challenge was in obtaining my degree, in all honesty I reply, ‘Math!’ Most people chuckle at that response, but it really is the truth! I often say, ‘If it has a number in it, I’ll get it wrong! I think I have math dyslexia!’ If I didn’t need to balance my checkbook or figure out how much I’m paying for one lemon, when three cost a dollar, I would almost never use math.
Thankfully, all four of my children are whizzes at math; I actually call them if faced with a mathematical dilemma! But I never did well in math classes in high school or college. In fact, with crocodile tears I literally begged my algebra professor for a ‘D!’ And, thankfully, he literally gave me that undeserved ‘D!’ If he hadn’t I would have assuredly failed the class. Therefore, the thought of returning to graduate school to obtain my Master’s degree in social work was almost terrifying, because I just knew I would never be able to pass another math class!
Over the years I’ve often heard others with the same excuse for not furthering their education. They are terrified of math, and fearing they will fail just won’t even try. In my case, when I learned the social work research class would suffice for any math requirements, I enrolled!
It’s amazing! It wasn’t easy, but when math becomes a necessity for understanding and communicating something you’re deeply interested in, and more so when math becomes a necessity for achieving a career you’ve longed for, suddenly that impossible math isn’t so impossible anymore! Without shedding one tear, I actually made a ‘B’ in the required Social Work Research class!
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