Anytime someone inquires about my field of study in school I chuckle inside. I wonder if I tell them they will instantly know so much about me. I can’t even count the number of people who have said that whatever it is you study in school is what you personally need the most help with.
I study communication in relationships – this semester more specifically in intimate interpersonal relationships, and philosophy. (Yikes! Don’t tell anyone!!) I will tell you right now that I am no professional. More than not being a professional, with all of my recent-found knowledge on the subject, it makes relationships too easy to whittle down to a science. With this ability I can put off grief, sadness, joy, and challenges. The thought itself makes my heart sink.
I feel more humbled in recent weeks not only working through challenges, but in letting go of my tendency to put off ‘feelings’ in general. I may ‘know’ a handful of things, and I just might have some good conflict resolution advice to give, but I need to be constantly reminded that as much as we can measure relationships, as much as we can research and solve issues – every relationship is made of real people, real risks, real feelings, and real love.
Sometimes I think of education like a ladder, the more we know, the higher we get. In my field, the problem is that somewhere along the way you realize that your feet aren’t on the same ground as everyone else. I always think, boy, what a great thing to study – communication in relationships – I’d like to think it will make me a better wife, mother, daughter, friend, and Christian. While it all sounds wonderful, the challenge, I believe is to stay real through it all. I don’t want to look back twenty years from now thinking that I had only become an unfeeling robot living the textbook to relational communication.
Life’s a journey, isn’t it? I appreciate the mornings when the sun is shinning far more than I used to. That’s progress for me. ☺
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