Reflections on Initiation
Published by Paul Mosier at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Paul Mosier
Reflections on Initiation by Paul Mosier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
To Nicole, your patience is a wellspring from which I have drunk deeply.
"Always remember what you are doing to yourself."
These were the words spoken to me by my step-uncle shortly after I had started classes at the New England School of Acupuncture. He spoke them in a pointed tone but with a kind and fatherly edge; I am certain for the purpose of ensuring I remember and take them to heart. I know that his words were spoken out of his own personal experience - himself having recently finished school while working full-time, struggling to do the best he could to provide for his family while bettering their station. And though I heard these words and understood their definition, at the time I did not quite fully grasp the implication of what they meant.
I had enrolled full-time in the New England School of Acupuncture while simultaneously quitting a previous job and starting a new one (also full-time) in Cambridge, Massacheusetts. The program was not for the faint-hearted. It was a three-year, year-round graduate program whose strict attendance requirements and relentless pacing caused many students to rethink their educational and career choices after only two months. Many students and alumni could tell you of the sacrifices required to make it through, or what disasters befell them in their perseverance: broken relationships, nervous breakdowns, failed marriages, bankruptcy, and stress-induced health disorders being some of the real and not uncommon risks.