Good question! I don't have a great answer to that FAQ, but I do have a general idea what my future will (hopefully!) look like. So, for all of you who are wondering...
My plan is to become a certified hospital chaplain. To do this, I had to complete my Master of Divinity, which I did in December 2010. It's official now - I received my diploma in the mail yesterday! Woo hoo! In addition, I have to participate in at least one year long residency at a hospital in their Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program.
When I realized that my future rent will be 2-4 times as expensive as it has been in Abilene (not to mention bills!), I decided it would be best to move in with my parents for a few months to save some money. So on January 1, 2011 I stuffed my trusty Honda Civic to the gills with my last load of belongings and made the trek to my new home in St. Louis.
I have been laboring (too?) long and hard over my application and plan to send it off this Monday in hopes that someone, anyone, will ask me to join their residency cohort. I plan to send it to 3 hospitals in California (LA, San Francisco, and Sacramento), 3 in New York City, 2 in St. Louis, and 1 in Chicago and perhaps a couple more just in case.
Mostly I am thrilled and excited for a new chapter of my life to begin. But to be honest, this time of limbo has been fairly stressful and I often find myself paralyzed by the fear that it won't work out and no one will hire me. Now let me be clear - the rational side of me doesn't think that will actually happen, but fears are not always rational are they? I am hoping that the moment I send off my application will be a moment of relief. I am pretty sure my fears of rejection have made me place far too much importance on my application which has led me to feel it needs to be absolutely flawless which has increased my stress which has intensified my fears of rejection which... Yes, I know it's a crazy cycle. After I press "send" on my emails and drop my application packets in the mailbox (I hope to find one that will make a terrific thud), there will be nothing else I can do but wait. Here's hoping that helps ease the burden to some degree.
So in very general terms, that is "what's next" in my life.
I have also had several people ask about CPE and the residency and even about hospital chaplaincy in general. Looks like I have my next few blog topics lined up already...
My plan is to become a certified hospital chaplain. To do this, I had to complete my Master of Divinity, which I did in December 2010. It's official now - I received my diploma in the mail yesterday! Woo hoo! In addition, I have to participate in at least one year long residency at a hospital in their Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program.
When I realized that my future rent will be 2-4 times as expensive as it has been in Abilene (not to mention bills!), I decided it would be best to move in with my parents for a few months to save some money. So on January 1, 2011 I stuffed my trusty Honda Civic to the gills with my last load of belongings and made the trek to my new home in St. Louis.
I have been laboring (too?) long and hard over my application and plan to send it off this Monday in hopes that someone, anyone, will ask me to join their residency cohort. I plan to send it to 3 hospitals in California (LA, San Francisco, and Sacramento), 3 in New York City, 2 in St. Louis, and 1 in Chicago and perhaps a couple more just in case.
Mostly I am thrilled and excited for a new chapter of my life to begin. But to be honest, this time of limbo has been fairly stressful and I often find myself paralyzed by the fear that it won't work out and no one will hire me. Now let me be clear - the rational side of me doesn't think that will actually happen, but fears are not always rational are they? I am hoping that the moment I send off my application will be a moment of relief. I am pretty sure my fears of rejection have made me place far too much importance on my application which has led me to feel it needs to be absolutely flawless which has increased my stress which has intensified my fears of rejection which... Yes, I know it's a crazy cycle. After I press "send" on my emails and drop my application packets in the mailbox (I hope to find one that will make a terrific thud), there will be nothing else I can do but wait. Here's hoping that helps ease the burden to some degree.
So in very general terms, that is "what's next" in my life.
I have also had several people ask about CPE and the residency and even about hospital chaplaincy in general. Looks like I have my next few blog topics lined up already...
