Listening

I find people to be endlessly fascinating. This is why I've selected professional listener as my career. Pretty much any therapist, when asked why they've chosen this path, will tell you that they find people are endlessly fascinating.

Counseling is, perhaps, the only career that allows one the great honor of deeply entering another person's world. Take my job, for instance. Here are kids who are, in almost every sense of the word, completely different from myself. They meet me, along with an entire "team" of helpers, in a strange setting. They are expected to share their life secrets and repeatedly discuss their biggest mistakes. They have no reason whatsoever to trust me.

And yet, almost inevitably, they talk. Given a little bit of time, an open mind, and a curious ear, they talk. They grant me the incredible honor of hearing their opinions, thoughts, reactions, emotions, experiences, and wisdom. For a brief moment, they allow me to enter their world. The impact is profound.

My work is exhausting. It requires intense, total attention on exactly what the client is saying. It requires leaving your mind wide open and curious, constantly exploring their words while paying careful attention to body language, tone, facial expression. It demands that I be thoroughly and genuinely empathic, but not for a second get overwhelmed by emotion. These clients are in crisis, and it is my job to live it and at the same time contain it. I absorb part of their pain so they don't have to live this alone. I leave work each day mentally drained and emotionally exhausted.

And not for a second would I consider doing anything else with my life.