Professional Identity Disorder

When you enter a doctoral program like the one I am in, you are entering a culture of research. They will make a researcher out of you. I am becoming a researcher.

I am also a therapist and I maintain a small practice. I never want to give this up because it is valuable to the people I serve and keeps me humble. Talking with another person about the most sensitive and sometimes aching parts of their lives with the sense that i have something to offer them is humbling. We take on these challenges together and work toward solutions.

But I am also a teacher. I love to teach. However, I love to quality teach. What I mean by that is I don't think I am cut out for teaching 5 or 6 courses per semester. I can't give students why they need if I have that many students.

I am also a minister, in a sense. Although I will probably never be a minister professionally, I still have this heart of a minister that wants to do so much good for people.

So the question is, who am I (professionally speaking)? I think I might have Professional Identity Disorder (PID).

Anyone else outh there ever has a bout of professional PID?

My guess is that I will do some measure of all of these, but one identity will emerge as primary. Of all of these, I have the least training in research, so that is where I am placing most of academic efforts. Who know, maybe I'll become a decent researcher?