Perspective Shift

During my practicum, I remember my professor listening to the recording of one my sessions and commenting, "Maryam, you are saying the perfect responses, but it does not seem like you mean it. Where is your empathy? If I can sense the lack of empathy from a tape, I am certain that your client can sense it sitting across from you." After listening to someone articulate my feelings from hearing a session made me think about what I was doing, and my motivations behind doing it.

I am a passionate being. I cannot commit nor do anything without being genuinely interested. Now that I am a "grown up", I have the luxury of deciding how to handle situations of faded passion. At the time I felt that discontinuing my education was appropriate. I was determined to pay for my degree with cash, not loans. That required me to have to work 40 hour weeks, while going to a practicum site for 20 hours a week and attend classes. I presume I burned the candle at both ends.

After a year hiatus, I am at a point in which I am in a place that I can resume my graduate studies. I needed that year to show myself what I am capable of. I went from making "tough cakes" (what my husband named my first batch of cupcakes), to becoming comfortable with taking cake orders. The fulfillment that I feel in that alone could not have been achieved in a class room. Although I see great things happening for MarYumms, I cannot escape the counselor inside of me, and I am ready to embrace her while perfecting my craft simultaneously.

Until Next Time....



Strawberry Coconut cake with buttercream
frosting and white ganache roses. My first attempt
at making roses.