Why Change?

I recently had someone ask me why I had decided, at my age (apparently I'm ancient), to go back to school and pursue a different career. The question did make me ponder and think because I had never put my reasons down in words for why I have chosen SLP as my choice for a new career. I just see it as what I want to do, so I am going to do it. I think this is one of those questions that could have multiple answers such as expected job growth, wage, lifestyle, etc..., but those are all on the peripheral.
As I have written in the past I have been changing and find my voice so to speak. I think it came to me completely by coincidence, or maybe some destiny action was happening, that at the same time I was changing, I felt the pull to go in this direction. I believe that as I am growing as a person and learning to speak my voice, I find I want to help others that have lost theirs or are struggling with it. To be able to communicate is the center of the human experience. Oral communication is a big part of that. If a person can't communicate clearly their ideas, feelings, thoughts, then they internalize and become frustrated and angry. I am a communicator by my nature. I need to express myself and my thoughts or I start to fall away from myself and turn into a zombie.

I reflect on a job I had when I was just out of high school. I was a nurse aide at a convalescent center. I hated the job, but there was a man, a patient, who had lived in that center for over 10 years. His body was slowly succumbing to MS. I would start my shift with a visit with him. The disease had been eating away at him to where he was unable to feed himself and could barely talk. I would sit next to him and we would "talk" for as long as I could manage without neglecting my other patients. He collected stamps, and he would share his many collections with me all the while trying hard to get his mouth to work right. Most of the time it was just me guessing and pointing to things, but we managed and with a little frustration and patience, communication took place. Over time, I found myself loving spending time with this man and would spend time with him after my shift was over. I felt frustrated that there was nothing I could do to make him well. It was out of my hands. All I could do was be a comforting friend. He was the only thing I missed about leaving that job.

Now as I look to the future, I see myself in a similar scenario, but maybe now I can help someone who is recovering from an accident, a stroke, a returning vet with brain damage, or a person just struggling to overcome a stutter. I can also be proactive by helping a child that might have a deformity in their mouth, or one that has Autism learn to overcome their disability so that their voice can be heard. A child that maybe might not have had the confidence to express him/herself due to a completely treatable speech problem, can receive therapy and find the confidence to get their ideas and thoughts across.

So I guess that is the long version of an answer, but that is my reason(s) none the less. In a nutshell, I want to help people communicate because every voice needs to be heard. Sounds simple enough, but yet it is meaningful to me that I can contribute to helping another. Becoming a Speech Language Pathologist is the way I want to do it.