The First Coffee Bean (First Week of the DSW)
The first week of the first semester of the first year of the Doctor of Social Work program is in the books. To say that I’m excited is an understatement.
A good cup of coffee (espresso, which is the basis for all good coffee) starts with a single coffee bean…whichever one makes it into the hopper first. Then it’s joined by its fellow beans, and then rapidly ground and packed before water is propelled through it, to bring us its beautiful and incredible essence.
This is graduate school. Right now we’re in the phase where we’re adding the beans. Thinking, ideating, and processing adds more beans…next year we’ll get to grinding those beans up…and finally, when we’re all DSW candidates, we’ll be ready to move forward and blast the hot water through those beautiful grounds…and come up with a perfect cup.
Each coffee bean I come up with I’m adding to my Capstone research page; this week I was able to speak in larger terms about what I want to work on, how I want to work on it, and why it, and the DSW program is meaningful to me:
As someone who works in Micro Practice daily, but also loves Macro level practice (policy and history) and has an MBA, and loves entrepreneurship, and finance, and banking, and accounting, I want to work on a capstone that functions at the Macro, Mezzo, and Micro levels to benefit my agency, my patients, and the community I work in.
This week was very much about figuring out the flow of doctoral level work, while working full time, with chronic illness. I found that flow (in its entirety) over the course of the week, leveling out this morning. This means I’m ready and prepared for next week, which is an awesome feeling.
I have to say, I am also eternally thankful for my cohort, with whom I have built (and feel) a strong bond and connection to. We did a lot of work well before orientation in order to get to know one another, and I am sure that our feeling of mutual support, mutualism, and camraderie will not only grow as we go through this program, but will be integral to our success in it. I haven’t felt this kind of togetherness since my Non-Commissioned Officer Course days, so it’s refreshing!
In other news, on September 16th I begin my Certified Financial Social Worker exam for the CFSW credential through the Center for Financial Social Work, and my new couch comes on Tuesday, so that’s exciting.
I have off tomorrow (Labor Day) and I’m taking Tuesday off for the new holiday I’m celebrating in life: “Couch Day!”