How studying Psychology changed my life?

Psychology is all about observing how we behave and why behave that way in every situation of our life. I have always wanted to study psychology since I was in Middle School. I have dreams of becoming a psychologist and helping people throughout my life. I don’t know what was so appealing to me about this field, but all I know is that it was always meant to be. And I will always say that: I didn’t choose to do Psychology, Psychology chose me. Yes, because I do believe that everything happens for a reason; since I was a child I always had that dream of me changing the world and making it a better place. And in order to do that, I had to start by changing myself first. And that’s why I started studying Psychology.

We live in a world filled with hurt and suffering, and a place that is not equal for all. My dream is to leverage my unique set of skills, abilities, privileges, resources, and knowledge in a way that increases equality and privilege for all. So my Psychology studies will help me achieve this dream, knowing that it helps me change my life completely.

The incredible transformation I have experienced in my own life from the power of psychology motivates me to immerse myself in my studies and move closer towards my goal of becoming a psychologist. Recognizing how the quality of my own life has been profoundly enhanced by self-reflection, the invaluable lesson of how to learn from suffering, and coming to a deeper understanding of who I am, encourages me to try and be a catalyst for this kind of change in other’s lives. I’m motivated to empower people to feel confident enough in who they are that they don’t feel the need to bring others down.

I’m not a psychologist yet, I’ve only studied 2 years of psychology. However, in just 2 years, a lot of things have changed in me and in my life. So here are 5 ways how studying psychology changed my life:

1.Work on myself

This is a no-brainer: By learning about psychological constructs, such as dimensions of personality, we can better understand ourselves, our motives, and our patterns of behavior. So Psychological assessments allow me to better know and understand my true self. It helped me rediscover who I am, understand some of my personality traits that have always been there but I couldn’t explain them. I begin to realize what my problems are, what is normal and what is not normal in me. I begin to listen to my own thoughts, my emotions and I learnt how to accept my feelings and who I am. I started thinking more intentionally about who I am, who I am becoming. It changes my way of approaching a problem or situation drastically and I can find a solution easily to any problem. Because I now can look at the situation I find myself in both clinically and emotionally. From there, I can better handle those emotions or negative circumstances more rationally. It’s like I’m doing a therapy to myself and by myself, it’s like I am becoming my own best friend and I’m trying to get to know more about her. Best feeling EVER!!!

2.Insight into people’s behavior

People do some pretty inexplicable things that, without psychology, could never be explained. By studying psychology, I gained a deeper access to the human mind that gives new meaning to how people express emotions, handle stress, give and receive love, and, indeed, why certain situations affect some people more than others. Gaining insight into the actions and thought processes of those around me (my mom, my dad, my friends, my family…) helps me form better relationships and, since healthy relationships are key to our emotional wellbeing, now and thanks to Psychology, I get to choose people who will enter my life very wisely. For example, I never gonna date a guy who is going to cheat on me because I can already see it from the first moment I meet and talk to him.

3.Improved communication and empathy.

One of the beautiful interesting things I study is the beauty of effective communication and just how much of a mastery it truly is. Learning about topics such as emotional intelligence and nonverbal communication can help me pay attention to the subtle, unspoken cues in others that allow me to connect with them on a deep, emotional level. In other words; when you gain a deeper understanding of how individuals express themselves, you also develop a greater awareness of your own speech patterns and communication skills. You then can strive to become a more powerful speaker – and a better listener. Plus, you can avoid any pitfalls of poor communication, like misunderstandings, assumptions, and more. It also changed my way of thinking and increased the maturity levels to better standards, now I’m able to receive persons as they are without judging them. Which leads me to number 4 and that is…

4.Becoming a better person

There is no doubt that learning something about psychology will make you grow as a person and become a better, more fulfilled individual. Now that I know so many things about developmental psychology, I can help myself become a better parent, and raise a more psychologically-healthy child. Or now that I know so many things about the positive psychology movement, that focuses on topics such as happiness, forgiveness, gratitude, and meaning in life, I can show gratitude every day and I know all the ways of how to make myself happy every day. Now that I know so many things about liars, manipulators, narcissists, toxic people, I can spot them and protect myself from them because now I know how they behave, what are the things that they usually say, etc… And now that I know how to accept myself, I want to help people in their transformation towards becoming more unconditionally loving, tolerant, and compassionate people. I think when people are more comfortable with, and accepting of, who they are, they are consequently kinder and more loving towards those around them. Encouraging this kind of growth first on an individual level, and ultimately on a global level, motivates me to not only get through, but thrive within my studies.

5.Make my dreams come true

I don’t what’s about psychology, but since the day I started to study psychology, I began to work so hard on my dreams. It changed me, it really did. It elevated me to be a more positive person, very committed to achieve my dreams, and   I went forward doing things that I didn’t believe were possible, but I did them anyway. I discovered a strength in me, that I guess was always there, but I just couldn’t figure out how to bring it out and show it to the world. I asked my teacher the other day “Why I feel that type of way?”; his answer was: “When you start studying psychology, you begin to understand your motives and be-friend your dreams. You start to know how to set your goals and make a plan for them in order to achieve them. By gaining insight into what motivates us, and by using the well-supported notion of goal-setting, we can learn to accomplish great things, and we can better understand why we strive for the outcomes and goals that we do.” And that was just WAOOOOWWW!!!