How do you want to retire?

When I retire I don’t plan on just sitting around. I am sure I will have plenty to do, but I will also travel regularly. I might live in Sicily for awhile and get my Italian citizenship which I am able to obtain because my grandparents were Sicilian citizens, My husband and I also might spend time in Mexico for a time as well. And I will have my horses to ride and garden to work on.

What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?

The one thing that I need to do more of is to find time for myself. I need to have more moments where I get to do something that I want to do, and be able to tell others no when it makes sense.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I haven’t actually taken the time to seriously think about what my life will be like in the future. Sure, I have thought about when I might like to retire, or what other countries and places I might like to visit, but to actually narrow it down and give some thought to what I might be doing in 10 years….I haven’t done that until right now.

If I put some real thought into it, I am guessing that I will still be living in my current house because I love it so much, and love my neighborhood. I’m guessing that neither of my parents will be alive anymore, and most of the older generation of family will be gone. I’m hoping my husband will still be alive. My son will have moved out of the house and probably be married, so maybe I will be a grandmother in 10 years. But where does all of this leave me? I think that I will still have a horse and ride, my current dog should still be alive so I imagine I will still be walking her every morning…….and I plan on retiring early, so I probably will be retired. I possibly will have developed a new venture in the next few years that will have grown in 10 years, so it will keep me busy. I would really like to be at a place in my life where I don’t have to work so hard and I will have more time to enjoy life. However, I really can’t think about these things because it’s hard to say what the world will be like in 10 years because of the way that things seem to be headed. Not to be bleak, but I don’t have a lot of hope for the future, so all I can really do is take it year by year, and that is why I really haven’t given the future much thought until now.

Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

The teacher who influenced me the most was my psychology teacher my senior year of high school. The psychology teacher was also a therapist and he liked to teach during the day, and see clients at night in his private practice. He “liked to influence young minds,” he used to say. I had been thinking about being a therapist, but hadn’t completely made up my mind until I took the psychology class that Mr. Smith taught. He even let us call him by his first name,and he was only 30, so it was nice to have someone closer to our age teaching the class. I

think that because Mr. Smith allowed us to ask questions and we had deep conversations in class, I was able to explore what it would be like to be a therapist, and ultimately I decided to be a therapist by the end of my senior year because of the experience I had in that high school psychology class.

What was the best compliment you’ve received?

One of the best compliments that I have received is that it’s clear that I love what I do, and that it doesn’t seem as if I am doing a job. I’m a therapist and I do love what I do, and it does not seem like a job to me, so they are correct. I love talking to people and finding out their stories as people always have interesting stories to tell.

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

The mode of travel I would choose to go on a cross-country trip would depend on where I was going and why I was going. If I had a lot of time, I might ride a train, and in fact, I HAVE ridden a train across country. It was a really nice trip. Met some interesting people. Saw some interesting things.

I wouldn’t mind driving in my truck across the country. I could take my two dogs, and maybe even take my horse. I think it would be fun to stop and ride in different parts of the country.

I have flown a bit, and when I needed to get somewhere in a hurry, getting on a plane was convenient and fast. I like trying airport food in different places, and I like to buy a shot glass or some other souvenir from various places.

What makes you most anxious?

The one thing that I think makes me anxious is public speaking. If I had to get up in front of a large crowd and give a speech, I would probably feel anxious at the beginning, but eventually the anxiety would diminish. I’m not an anxious person to begin with, so I don’t feel anxious on a regular basis.

Are you superstitious?

I would say that I am only partially superstitious in that I am no longer superstitious about the things that scared me as a kid. I am still superstitious about not talking about something that you really want to happen or if you break a mirror you will have 7 years of bad luck. Just in case.