Psychology on the Brain

At the Winter Carnival Queens Coronation the other night a question was asked of the candidates that got me thinking. Neal Armstrong once said, (as I'm sure we all know) "One small step for a man, one giant leap for man kind."All of the girls running for queen were asked what was a small step that turned into a giant leap. I've finally come up with my answer...

As most of my friends know I decided to take a giant leap this year and change my major to Psychology from Physics. To my close friends, this may not seem like a "giant" leap, but to me (and apparently it is). For the longest time I've know I've wanted to do something with science when I got older, and I knew I wanted to teach. Teaching for one, runs in my family. My mom teaches 4th grade and my grandmother was a speech pathologist. I've always known that I didn't want to teach elementary or middle schoolers though, I'm not really one for dealing with lots of kids on a regular basis. So, I decided I'd teach college. Next it was choosing the science field I wanted to study. In middle school I was convinced I'd be an archaeologist, which quickly died away when I learned my schooling would involve dissection. I then started focusing on physical science, which quickly turned to astronomy. I learned that in order to study astronomy I had to become a physicist. No big deal at first since I enjoyed my high school classes. However, my first semester at college proved me wrong, and quick. Which left me with trying to figure out what I was going to do. After talking to Joe and Katelyn I decided I was going to take a big risk and change to psych.

It may not seem like that big of a risk, but let me tell you that I have never taken a psych course in my life. All I knew was the clinical side of psychology, which I enjoyed. I decided I wanted to be a relationship therapist. My English course last semester though gave me a little bit more insight on psychology and I decided I didn't want to counsel couples, I wanted to study them. So that's where I'm at now. I want to combine my love for science and research and experiments with my love of well...love! I want to study why people feel the way they do when they're in love, what goes on in our brains and minds (yes, they are different), and how our bodies are affected. I also want to do counseling work as well though. And maybe even write (a dream I abandoned long ago).

So I've gone from studying the physical laws of the universe to focusing on the way the mind works. And I have to say, so far I think I've made the best decision of my life. I enjoy going to my psych classes every day and I look forward to the new and exciting things I'm learning. Although reading a text book has it's downsides, I find interest in everything I'm reading. It makes college that much better and enjoyable.

So now I ask you. What's your giant leap?