Family Voyage: What Does it Mean?

This week, I submitted my family voyage paper. For some reason, I thought that it would be difficult to write ten pages on my family. However, that was not the case by far. I sat down to start writing and before I knew it I was at twelve pages. One of my classmates pointed out that the paper had to be ten pages exactly, no more and no less. So, I had to go back in and take out some of the “fluff” that was added in.

Throughout this journey I never thought anything of the assignment being called a ‘voyage’. Toward the end of my paper, it dawned on me. . .this was quite the voyage. The anxiety that it put on me. The anticipation and dedication. It was not easy. I think that in many ways, that was one of the many reasons this was an assignment. 

Being a therapist entails so much emotion that if we are not able to adequately manage our emotions, how can we encourage our clients to use proper coping skills to manage theirs? We can’t. Through this project I learned just how difficult it is to ask the difficult questions, with confidence. 

I am grateful that my professor gave us this assignment and I am grateful that I was able to learn so much from just one assignment, not including all of the things I’ve learned over this semester.