YOU GOT YOUR DIPLOMA: NOW WHAT?

In September we will once again have diploma ceremonies…. Here is an article for everyone who has ever received a diploma, or who will receive one in the future.

After months or years of studying, you have finally earned your diploma. Instead of feeling relieved, you notice something else. A kind of disappointment. Maybe you thought that once you had your diploma, you would finally have arrived.

Now you have your diploma in your hands and you think: I still need to know a thousand and one more things and be able to do a thousand and one more things before I am really any good. How can I call myself a therapist or practitioner when there is still so much I need to learn? If only they knew how insecure I feel……

Then you comfort yourself with the thought that after a few more years of experience and some additional training, everything will be fine. Only to discover a few years later that you are still thinking: I don’t know enough yet! I still can’t do enough! I’m simply not enough! I still need to know a thousand and one more things and be able to do a thousand and one more things before I am really any good. How can I call myself a therapist or practitioner when there is still so much I need to learn? If only they knew how insecure I feel…….

YOU ARE ALREADY A PROFESSIONAL!

I say: there is no need to doubt yourself! You are good enough exactly as you are. You can be a real practitioner without knowing everything and without being able to do everything.

Even when you feel insecure and think: this doesn’t look like much. Even then, you can still be a true professional practitioner.

But perhaps you do feel insecure. It may seem impossible that you could already be good enough to be a true professional practitioner. And yet I believe you can be. Without needing to change anything about yourself first. Without needing to learn more before you are allowed to begin.

WHAT IS THE SECRET?

The secret of being a good practitioner does not lie in the amount of knowledge and skills you have, but in staying true to yourself. You are allowed to simply be yourself! You do not have to become someone else when you treat people. You are the practitioner, with all your doubts and insecurities. They are part of you too.

Stay yourself! Do not pretend to be someone you are not.

Often, what you know and what you can do feels so obvious to you that you keep thinking you should know and be able to do exactly those things you do not yet know or cannot yet do.

But what if you focused only on what you can do and what you do know? You might suddenly discover that it is actually quite a lot. If, as a practitioner, you only do, say and share what you truly know and what you are genuinely able to do, then what you know and can do is enough. No matter how little it may seem, when it is real, it is enough.

NOT KNOWING AS A GATEWAY TO WISDOM

And perhaps even more importantly: doubt, insecurity and not knowing are the gateway to wisdom. Searching, experimenting and making mistakes are exactly what shape you into an even better practitioner. Gaining experience is perhaps the most important thing of all.

And that starts exactly where you are now. With what you can do now. You do not need to be able to do more than you can do, or know more than you know, in order to be a real practitioner. Because what is there now is enough. Gaining experience starts exactly where you are and with exactly what you already have.

WHAT IF YOU MET YOURSELF?

And be honest. You can do quite a lot already. You know that.

Imagine meeting yourself a few years ago, exactly as you are now. Imagine meeting a practitioner who knows what you know now. Who thinks the way you think now. Who feels what you feel now. Who says the things you say now. And most importantly: who gives the treatments you give now.

What would you think of that person? Would you consider them a professional practitioner? Probably yes!

In just a few years, you will have learned so much, even though you may not fully realize it yourself.

5 TIPS TO BE BOTH YOUR IMPERFECT SELF AND A PROFESSIONAL PRACTITIONER

Only do that…

1. …where you feel confident.

2. …where you have discovered things through your own experience.

3. …that you have practiced enough to make it your own.

4. …that suits you.

5. …that comes naturally to you.

CONTINUING EDUCATION IS ALWAYS GOOD, BUT DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE PERFECT

Of course, it is always good to continue learning and to keep gaining new knowledge. Not because what you already have is not enough, but because staying in motion is important. You can keep learning your entire life!

By staying active, gaining experience and continuing your education, you can make more and more things your own. And you can deepen the things that you have already made your own.

But do not make yourself smaller! Stay yourself and keep moving forward. That is all you need to be a good practitioner.

Do what you can! Do not think: I should be able to do more. You do not need to be able to do more than you can, as long as you make use of what you already can do.

Know what you know! Do not think: I should know more. You do not need to know more than you know, as long as you make use of what you already know.

Stay honest with yourself. Do not present yourself as better than you are, but do not present yourself as less than you are either.

Accept your own abilities and knowledge for what they are, and be proud of them!

MEET THE MASTER WITHIN YOURSELF!