Counseling and Cohorts

I have counseling today with my new bi-sexual Jewish woman counselor. Which really is an education in itself. She's a professor for one of the counseling schools around here so I'm learning some along the way. I cannot say that I don't miss my other ones though. I trusted them and I might even say loved them and they know me better than anyone else. But it was great to hear them say I was doing really well when I left. To hear they think I really don't need necessarily counseling. I am beyond just "surviving". I have entered the thriving zone. I continue to choose counseling anyway. Both because of the school requirement and also because there are always bumps along the way. And this got me thinking about my future.

If I really do become a counselor someday it is normative to be in a cohort group or in counseling of some sort for the tenure of one's profession. It's the norm for good counselors to be in conversation with someone about their own projections, transferences, and issues that get brought up by hearing others. The counseling profession is a hard one.

Right now my friends are a bit better cohort than my counselor. Perhaps that's because they can say nice things I can hear. Last week three of my friends told me they loved me which was great interspersed in the week I was with my folks.

I hung out last night with one of these friends for the last time. She is a fellow student of mine and is moving back to where she hails from. I am sad. She has been my cohort through school thus far but graduated sooner because she went straight through. She always says goodbye to me by saying "______, I'm super fond of you." How cute.

I wonder who will come into my life next? Aren't we always creating new cohorts for ourselves?