It’s Never too Late for Reinvention

Tara’s journey to become a psychotherapist was one she never expected. Tara studied at Penn State University, where she majored in advertising. She grew up as a millennial in the 90s/2000’s era, where she witnessed successful women living their big career dreams in rom-coms (13 Going on 30, Legally Blonde, you get the gist). These movies, her passion for cutting up magazines and making collages, and her go-getter attitude led her to believe she was destined for a life in advertising.

Flash forward to her senior year of college, when she received her first job offer as a sales executive from a major media company. She jumped on it immediately, thinking how cool it would be to work for a big company in New York City, as she had always dreamed of as a young girl. What she soon discovered was that the job was a lot more glamorous on the outside than it was on the inside. She was informed by her superiors that if she didn’t produce enough revenue for the company, she would be laid off. At the very start of the job, she witnessed employees constantly getting laid off due to a lack of performance. This led to increased anxiety that she was forced to suppress. She always had to maintain her composure because she relied on the job to pay her rent, her bills, and make both herself and her family proud.

Tara continued to jump from job to job, hoping that the next one would fulfill her and cause less stress. She felt trapped in a career that only wanted to hire her for the same types of jobs in the sales/media world. It wasn’t until 2020, when Tara hit rock bottom, that she realized the only place to go was up.

She had put in the research to figure out what career path she could pivot to, but fell short many times. She had a call with a recruiter for a media job and felt desperate to get hired in a terrible job market during COVID-19. After she told the recruiter about herself, she received an unexpected response. The recruiter explained that she didn’t think this career path was working and pointed out how personable, warm, and caring she was. She had a daughter getting her Master’s in Social Work, and encouraged her to take a leap of faith in the same direction. The signs that she should become a therapist had been there all along; She just chose to look at others that she wanted to see. Some of these signs included her strong intuition, being the person all her friends went to for advice (and loving it), and choosing to minor in psychology in college.

Going back to school at age 28 felt intimidating to her. The idea of starting over, risking it all, and taking out student loans terrified her, but what terrified her even more was being stuck in an overwhelming and unfulfilling career for the rest of her life. She eased into graduate school much easier than she expected, she made some great friends along the way, and noticed her spark coming back as she grew more certain that this was the path she was destined for. Whenever she felt like her college degree and post-college work experience were a waste, she reminds herself that going through these things gave her the knowledge and empathy to help others going through the same thing.