Courtnay Veazey

Seinfeld is one of my all-time favorite sitcoms. Thankfully, my husband has the entire series on DVD, so we watch the show quite a bit for some great laughs. The other night we watched its Serenity Now episode. In this episode, several characters say the phrase "Serenity Now" to calm themselves down during times of stress, frustration, or anger. At first the characters find this phrase extremely helpful, but as time goes, they realize that this phrase doesn't help them with their emotions at all. One character even shares, "Serenity now; insanity later."

Fill in the blank. Exhausted. Busy. Talented. Wonderful. Beautiful. Giving. Stressed. Happy. Lonely. Worried. Tired. Anxious. A Counselor. A Teacher. A Partner. A Spouse. A Family Member. A Researcher. A Presenter. A Writer. A Planner. Etc. What about Becoming?

I love when different aspects of your life come together in such a way that you can't ignore the lesson that life wants to teach you. I shared with y'all in a previous post that I am a counselor in counseling. My therapist is Jungian-oriented, and several weeks ago, she introduced me to the concept of one's shadow side – the side of ourselves that we tend to not acknowledge because we see it as unlovely. During that session, it came up that I love the literary character, Scarlett O'Hara. She is strong. She is stubborn. She is selfish. She is self-destructive. But, I love her anyway.

Last August my advisor started a grief counseling/client support services program at Mississippi State University's veterinary teaching hospital. This program intrigued me the first time I heard about it. So, I talked to my advisor about volunteering this summer because I knew I would have the extra time to take up that responsibility.

My university offers a Maymester, which is a three week semester. It's quite amazing actually. You attend class Monday – Friday for three hours every day, and in three weeks, you have another 3-hour credit out of your way. It was the first Maymester I've ever done in my academic career, and I thoroughly enjoyed it thanks to my wonderful colleagues and professor. The class I completed was Group Techniques and Procedures, and as part of the course, we experienced being a group member. And, let me say, I fell in love with group therapy over the past three weeks.