Perfect 10 Challenge Week 7 Update

I'm not even going to bother going through each goal like I usually do because this week was an utter failure in just about every way. I have been locked up in my home like a hermit with no light, no noise, no fun. 21 day migraine was no fun. Then I decided to come down with a cold after all that. So I've been snotty and frustrated and trying my best to just be calm and patient so it will pass and I can go do all the things I want to be doing.

Something about me. Once upon a time in a land about 35 mins away from where I am now, I was a counselor. I think most of you know already that I'm of the financial services profession but that wasn't always so. Many moons ago when I began my college career, I originally wanted to become a clinical psychologist specializing in adolescent behavior and cognitive rehabilitation. While I was taking my pre-reqs for that program, I was also taking courses for the Alcohol and Drug Certification program. While I was doing that, I was also working as a Chemical Dependency Professional. I worked in just about every facet of the profession, inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, group homes, intervention and prevention in middle and high schools around the Puget Sound, etc.

I spent all my time and effort working with adolescents. My favorite was definitely adolescent boys inpatient treatment. Anyone under 13 or over 18 was just not my cup of tea. Adults are just full of shit and they think they're too clever for everyone and youngsters aren't able to think abstractly so discussing anything with them was just infuriating to me. But the teens...they're raw, real, honest. Yes it takes some time and a lot of trust building but once they feel that you're being real with them, they open wide up. It was the only thing I've ever done where I felt pure satisfaction at the end of just about every day. I worked with the boys for about a month at a time, sometimes longer. It was amazing, the things I saw and heard and did. Some of them would come to us through juvenille hall, some through school programs, some through parents. I got a few with shackles on their ankles and wrap sheets longer than my to-do lists. It just broke my heart because these boys were being treated like hardened criminals when they were just confused and frustrated and hurting human beings. No one else got to see the real them but I did and I am so thankful that I was able to experience all the wonderful and horrifying things I experienced in there. I only hope that some of the boys I worked with were able to turn their lives around.