Epiphany
Epiphany
Angelica Barratt
Waking up at my Dad’s house every Sunday, going downstairs and making myself a bowl of cereal, going back to my mom's house that day, taking a shower and packing my backpack for school was my usual schedule. This was my usual weekend, and it was the only thing I knew. I didn’t notice that this was not everyone else’s “normal” till I got to elementary school. Seeing everyone get picked up by both parents, not having to switch houses on the weekends, and being able to eat dinner together as a family. Comprehending that all of these things were not normal really confused me and made me feel secluded. It was not until my high school years I recognized having divorced parents really impacted me.
For instance, I remember eating dinner with my friend’s family one night. Her family all went around saying their favorite part of their day. She told me that they have done this since she could remember. That experience shocked me because I had never experienced anything like it in my life. It almost made me upset because I knew I probably would never have an experience like it since my parents got a divorce. That dinner with my friend made me aware that I do not have an average family with everyone sitting around at the dinner table. I look back on the last 17 years of my life and realize that I had no one to talk to when problems occurred with having divorced parents. The majority of my friends’ parents were all married, however the ones that did have divorced parents didn’t want to talk about it. Since I had no one to talk to, I feel that it made me more reserved with my feelings. I withdrew a lot as a kid. I was very shy and only had a couple of close friends. In high school I started going outside my comfort zone, joining clubs and sports. If my parents would have not gotten a divorce, I would have never gotten the chance to expose myself in those activities.
As a kid, it felt like people would judge you for having divorced parents, so no one talked about the problems they were facing. It hurts knowing that I did not have someone to express my emotions with as a child. And even now if I had someone to talk to about the issues I faced as a kid, I think it would have changed my life. This is why I want to go into Clinical Psychology, to help kids like me. To help kids with divorced parents or any other situation, let them talk about their challenges without judgement, reassure them that the difficulties they are going through won’t last forever. Being an avid listener for kids to help them with any situation they are facing is what I want to do.