Of course. My mom is an amazing, amazing woman, and I could only hope to be even half as remarkable of a person as she is. I couldn't ask for anyone to be more supportive of me. My parents and I are very close. It's just that in this particular area, there's a little bit of friction! I think what really frustrates me about all of this is that, at times, I truly don't know what I want, and I guess I just feel concerned about making the wrong decision for myself and wasting time/money/etc. It's hard to feel pushed when I'm not entirely sure in what direction I want to push myself in. I know I can only benefit from continuing on with my education, but I guess I just worry about if what I'm looking into is really "right" for me, though I can't imagine myself heading into other fields of study outside of psychology.

While I was in school, I was a research assistant for a professor of mine who taught social psychology. We were very close, and he had a big influence on me. I loved every minute of working (I think I almost sobbed my eyes out when I found out I was graduating early, and I still send that professor messages every once in a while asking if he needs any extra assistance with coding data or anything, haha!). For the majority of the duration of my stay at school, I had been planning to pursue a PhD in social psychology upon graduating. While I loved it as I was doing the work, after I graduated I couldn't help but feel like I wouldn't be even remotely passionate about it if I were doing it as a career, specifically in an academic context (e.g. trying for tenure, needing x number of published research papers per year depending on the university, typing up and revising research proposals, etc).

I suppose I haven't really met anyone who immediately just knew what they wanted, like "Yes, this is exactly what I'm meant to be doing." It's just intimidating to take a plunge without knowing where it's going to lead.