today i reached one of the milestones in my program. i successfully defended a therapeutic client in front of the faculty.  i was unusually calm leading up to the occasion.  i am an inherently anxious person, so this was a new experience for me.  the preparation and assistance i received through out the semester muted my propensity to worry.  the process went smoothly without humiliation, yet a strong comment afterwards on my paper has shaken me to my core.

i have always held a sense of security in my verbal and writing skills.  language skills came pretty naturally to me.  high school teachers and professors during my undergraduate years proffered my papers as a model to my peers.  it’s almost a cacophonous sound to hear someone critque, with such visceral, a skill that you believed was well-developed.  i’m aware of my level of training.  graduate school is a humbling journey where struggling seems mandatory.  the accoldates i received for my presentation were overshadowed by the strong condemnation of my writing.  i never thought of my writing as prestine or worthy of publishing.  however, i thought it was decent.  my goal now is to improve my skills each and every day.  i have written the upcoming statement numerous times with sincerity, but i WILL write something, anything each day to hone my skills.  length is immaterial.  priority is trivial.  practice is paramount.