August 19, 2009

Digging Deep

In 1993 I interviewed to become a counselor intern. I was hired. I had no idea what I was doing. At my first annual review, after I had become a little more knowledgeable of the counseling world and its surroundings, my then supervisor asked me what I wanted my career to look like in 10 to 15 years. Simple, I thought. I wanted to be Executive Director of a treatment center. I wanted to have my Master's degree. I wanted to be speaking nationally and the cherry on that would be to speak at the NAADAC conference.

Today I am sitting in the airport to fly to the NAADAC conference where I will speak tomorrow morning. Tomorrow I begin my last week of graduate school and will wrap that up with my Master's degree on September 1. I will begin a doctoral program on September 8. And I am Executive Director of the fastest growing outpatient treatment program in DFW.

I visited with someone I trust with my thoughts on Monday and followed that up with a visit with the CEO of the company where I work on Tuesday.

My question? What is next? I can't say I didn't believe I would ever reach my goals because I am a firm believer that we can accomplish anything we want enough...and I wanted it more than enough. But now I am wondering what I can dream of bigger than this?

The CEO said something that is ringing in my ears now. He said, "Only you know what would be a stretch for you". Hmmm. I have been thinking of that since he said it. What would be a stretch for me? What is the next goal? Do I pick up some of the goals I abandoned along the way? Do I create new ones?

I think I will be doing a lot of writing on the plane.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There is always more, It is amazing how time flys. I can really relate being 32 years old and having made it to Program Director. It happened faster than I planned, so I get that. What's next?