[This is a video transcript from Michael McCully]
I became a therapist because of a broken heart. I was at seminary not really because I knew what I wanted to do with my life, but because I enjoyed studying religion, theology, philosophy, and all that good stuff. But I was still sort of wandering, and I met this woman, who was smart and pretty and just all around great, and I fell in love! And I thought, "Hey! I'm going to marry this lady!". She didn't. And that really sucked, and it hurt a whole lot, and she dumped me, and I got saddled with some of the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. And I decided by God if I have to go through this, I might as well learn something from it.
So I started studying relationships. What makes them work, what doesn't. I started with Plato's Symposium and worked my way up to Harville Hendrix's Getting the Love You Want. From classical to pop! And I found that helped. That helped me to understand how to communicate better, how to listen, as well as just how do relationships function in general.
And then it was a year almost to the day, that my best friend called me up, and said that he was a little afraid that his wife might be cheating on him. And suddenly, for the first time in my entire life, I actually had useful knowledge! No offense to theology and all those other things I studied. I had knowledge that could be put to good use. And I did. For a time I walked with him during probably the second worst experience of his life. And did everything I could to help him by using those skills of listening deeply. And one night he said, "You know, you're kind of good at this, maybe you should do this for a career". And I thought about it. "Could I? Could I get paid to love people? Could I be a platonic prostitute? Well, why not!".
So I enrolled at a school here in Indiana and I became a Marriage and Family Therapist. And I've stuck with it because, as cheesy as it probably sounds, being paid to love people is the best job in the world. And I'm grateful, every chance I get to practice it. So, that's how I became a Marriage and Family Therapist.
[Michael McCully is a therapist featured on MintLeaf.]
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