The Pressure Cooker

And suddenly the semester is finished. There were many times this semester that I thought I wasn't going to make it and that I wasn't cut out to be an SLP. Most of these moments were outside of the therapy room and involved paperwork, but inside of the therapy room, I morphed from a very unsure, anxious-filled student into a more confident, heck-yeah-I-can-do-this clinician. I love doing therapy. I love the fact that I can go in to a session with a plan of action and the ability to modify it on the fly. I love trying to figure out what will help my clients the most and give them support they need while fostering independence.

So, what made this semester so difficult? All of my spare time was devoted to clinic and my clients. My other

Anxious in East Michigan...

So my semester has been off and running for almost 3 weeks now and I am feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and have had a lot of self-doubt creep in. The self-doubt has been there for a while, but has been only a small little voice whispering in my ear... now it's in full shout mode. Part of it has to do with the amount of time I have to commit to my grad assistant position and being able to manage my time effectively. The other part has to do with being in clinic this semester. Clinic is all consuming and I sometimes forget that I have 2 other classes that need my attention too.

I started off this semester feeling excited with only a slight case of nerves... and then I had my first diagnostic session with my (adorable!!) client this past week and it was a slightly chaotic blur where I attempted to take