Let's start from the beginning.

I just finished my two years in Cegep, and I was wondering what I should do with my life. I knew that I wanted to become a psychologist in the near future, but I didn't know if I wanted to do an internship first or go straight to University. These were my two options, an internship to practice myself in my field of study or go to university to pursue my career as a psychologist.

Choice 1 : Go to university straight away.

Choice 2 : Start with an internship first.

Go to university straight away.

I decided to go to Montreal University in my field of study, Psychology. I enjoyed all of my classes and I met many new people that were really nice to be around. I started to feel like it was my new home because I spent all my time studying in the University's library. Also, I met a girl that was in every one of my classes, and we hit it off immediately. We started talking about our personal lives, and she told me that she has been a victim of sexual harassment from a teacher at our university. She also told me that it started as some flirtation from both of them but that it escalated, and she became scared of her teacher which was now a perpetrator. So, I had two choices that came in mind, the first was to denounce the teacher in order for him to lose his job. The other option, was to keep it to myself and try to help my friend forget about it.

Choice 1 : Denounce the teacher in order for him to lose his job.

Choice 2 : Keep the sexual assault to myself and help my friend get through this traumatizing experience.

Start with an internship first.

I decided to start my career with an internship to help familiarize myself with my field of study. At first, I really enjoyed it because the internship was meant for me. It helped me get a foot in the door and see if the job could really fit me. But, my mentor was awful and I had to learn everything by myself because he never wanted to help me with anything. That's when I realized that I hat two choices, the first was to complain to the boss and try to convince him to get me another mentor. The other choice was to keep this mentor and live with it because it only lasts a month and I can handle it.

Choice 1 : Complain to the boss and try to convince him to get me another mentor.

Choice 2 : Keep this mentor and live with it because it only lasts a month and I can handle it.

Denounce the teacher in order for him to lose his job.

I went to denounce the teacher to the human resources because of his misconduct. They were the ones in charge of the complaints about sexual harassment and many other files. When I arrived there they told me that I made the right choice and that they were going to take care of it. A week later, we were announced that there was a vacant position because one of our teachers was fired. I was really happy and proud about it but only my friend and I knew what it was all about. The HR peoples came to to tell me once again that they were proud of me and that they also gave the teacher a compensation package in order for me to not feel guilty of the situation. I now wanted to keep all this experience in the past and focus on my career. I had two choices that were presented to me, the first one was to specialize in the child development psychology or in mental health psychology.

Choice 1 : Specialize in the child development psychology.

Choice 2 : Specialize in mental health psychology.

Keep the sexual assault to myself and help my friend get through this traumatizing experience.

I wanted really badly to tell the human resources about the sexual harassment, because the teacher misconducted himself but I respected my friend's decisions and I kept it to myself. I was always there for her whenever she needed me. I now had to go on with my life and try to focus on my grades. One day, my friend told me that we were invited to a huge party this evening and that I had to come. I knew that I had a really important exam the next morning that would determine if I passed my Psychology degree or not but I wanted to go to the party. I had two choices, go to the party or stay in the University's library to study for my exam.

Choice 1 : Go to the party.

Choice 2 : Study for my exam in the University's library.

Complain to the boss and try to convince him to get me another mentor.

I went to complain to the boss to have another mentor because with my current one I didn't even learn the ropes of the job and there were many drawbacks and flaws with my mentor's way of training me. The boss told me that he was very sorry but all the mentors were already with other interns and that I had to stay with my current mentor. I decided that I had two choices. The first one was to confront my mentor and tell him to teach me at least the basics of the job or the second choice was to leave this internship and go directly to university.

Choice 1 : Confront my mentor and tell him to teach me at least the basics of the job.

Choice 2 : Leave this internship and go directly to university.

Keep this mentor and live with it because it only lasts a month and I can handle it.

I decided to keep this mentor and finish my month as an intern without ever complaining about his incompetence. Many times, I wanted to confront my mentor and tell him that he wasn't the best and that they were many drawbacks with his training, but I was only an intern and it wasn't my place to say. I now had two choices, one of them was to finish my internship and maybe volunteer abroad and the other one was to apply for a job as a psychologist.

Choice 1 : Finish my internship and maybe volunteer abroad.

Choice 2 : Apply for a job as a psychologist.

Specialize in the child development psychology.

I decided to specialize in the child development psychology and I loved it. Everything about my classes was what I always wanted to do and I got straight A's in every class. Then, I graduated from University and I found myself a job that was made for me and it had a good salary. With my high wage, I was able to set aside some money and have a great retirement because I had everything that I needed. My only choice now, was to retire rich and happy for the rest of my life.

Choice 1 : Retire rich and happy.

Specialize in mental health psychology.

I decided to specialize in mental health psychology. When I finished the program I had succeeded in every class and I enjoyed every aspect of the mental health program. Then, I went and found a job but something was wrong from the beginning. Every psychologist that had the same job as me were mean to each other and didn't respect the office politics. Also, I found out that there was some kind of corruption where I was working. One day, I decided that it was enough and I had two choices. The first one was to quit and never have to bear this toxic environment and the other choice was to confront the psychologist and tell them that it wasn't the right way to treat each other.

Choice 1 : Quit and never have to bear this toxic environment any longer.

Choice 2 : Confront the psychologist and tell them that it wasn't the right way to treat each other.

Go to the party.

When I arrived at the party, everybody was already drunk and the party seemed really nice. I stayed partying until 2 a.m. and I instantly regretted my decision. The next morning, I tried to wake up early to finish studying for my final but I didn't hear my alarm and when I woke up it was already time to go pass my exam. I went to pass my exam and when I came back home I knew that I didn't do well on my test. When I received my grade, I was really disappointed at myself because I failed my class and I had to take summer courses to be able to have my degree in psychology. I only had one option left and it was to wait until summer to pass my summer courses.

Choice 1 : I had to pass my summer courses.

Study for my exam in the University's library.

I decided to stay at the school's library and study instead of going to the party. I think I made the right choice because if I didn't stay to study I am pretty sure that I would have failed the exam. With that being said, I think I had good time management because I studied all night and the next morning when I woke up I was feeling very confident for my exam. When I finished my exam, I knew that it went well, and I was already anxious to see my result. A week later, the results came in, and I only had one choice, go see my result and hope for the best.

Choice 1 : Go to check my result for my test.

Confront my mentor and tell him to teach me at least the basics of the job.

I decided that I wanted to get over this incompetence from my mentor and I confronted him. When I went to see him and confronted him, I immediately regretted my choice. My mentor was furious at myself and went directly to the boss to tell him what I had done. The day after, I was convened to the boss's offices, and he told me that he no longer wanted me in this internship and that from now on, it would be hard for me to find a job in my field of study, psychology. I was overwhelmed by the situation but I only had one choice and it was to leave his office and try to find another career that would suit me.

Choice 1 : Leave the internship and pursue another career.

Leave this internship and go directly to university.

I decided to let go of my mentor's incompetence and try to focus on finishing my internship. At the end of my internship, I had learned all the basics of the job even though I had to learn most of them by myself. At least, my internship came in handy and even though it was sometimes overwhelming, it was great overall. I think I made the right choice, because now I have more experience, and I am ready to go to university.

Choice 1 : Go directly to university in psychology.

Finish my internship and maybe volunteer abroad.

I decided to keep everything to myself and try to learn the ropes of the job from another mentor without my mentor noticing. It worked all really well and when I finished my internship the boss wanted to see me. He said that I had done a lot of progress since I arrived, and he gave me a lot of reference letters in order to apply in my favorite universities. With that being said, he told me that I could gain even more experience if I volunteered abroad, and he thought it was a really great option for me. It was the first time I had thought of that option but I needed to consider it.

Choice 1 : Decide if I want to volunteer abroad to gain more experience.

Apply for a job as a psychologist.

I decided to apply directly for a job as a psychologist and quit my first project of going to university. At first, I really enjoyed my new job and my internship had taught me a lot of things that I could finally put into practice. As weeks went by, I realized that maybe I made the wrong choice because I could never live with this wage because of my lack of studies. Even though I realized that I didn't make a lot of money I didn't have the courage to go back and study, so I stayed in my dead-end job for a while until I was exhausted.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.

Retire rich and happy.

I am now very happy with the way my life turned out! I have everything I ever wanted and I don't even have to pay for my mortgage because I already finished paying all of it. From now on, my only concern is to pay my pension and take care of my children.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.

Quit and never have to bear this toxic environment any longer.

One day, I decided that the toxic environment was enough for me and I didn't want to stay in an environment where they didn't respect the office politics. Everybody undermined there co-workers and I didn't want to get sucked up in this negative environment. I also didn't want to work in an environment where there was some sort of bribery to obtain a higher position in the job. Like I said, I decided to quit and I gave my two weeks notice to my boss and then I was out of this job. I didn't regret my decision and now I only had one choice, to find another job in the mental health psychology.

Choice 1 : Find another job in the mental health psychology department.

Confront the psychologist and tell them that it wasn't the right way to treat each other.

I decided to confront my co-workers because the environment was unbearable. Everybody was withholding information from each other and I didn't agree with this way of working as a group. More often than not, people spoke in everybody's back to talk about their flaws and everything they thought was wrong. One day, I had enough of these non-respect of office politics and I confronted all of them. I also told them that I was suspecting some corruption and that it wasn't the right way to work. I was really surprised with their reaction, because all of them thought I was right, and they were just too scared to speak up and tell everybody the truth. Everybody felt more comfortable in the new working environment where we told each other everything and treated everyone with respect and equality. I even got a promotion and I got a higher wage because of my bravery and my devotion to our work environment. My only choice was to accept the promotion.

Choice 1 : Accept the promotion that was offered to me.

I had to pass my summer courses.

When I decided that I would wait until summer to pass my summer classes and then have my degree, I didn't realize that I would see everybody else have their degree except for me. It was really difficult for me, it affected my moral a lot and I didn't make it until summer because I became depressed before summer and had to go through therapy during the summer. That's how one party affected my life and now I am scared that I will be depressed for my entire life because I feel guilty of failing my degree for a party.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.

Go to check my result for my test.

When I arrived on the school websites, I immediately went to see my grade, and I was really proud. I even got a higher grade that I expected, I got an 90%, which is excellent for the final test in Psychology. I was so happy, and I was now a psychologist. I could have every job that I wanted and I knew that I would have a good wage to pay all of my debts and be able to have an amazing retirement.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.

Leave the internship and pursue another career.

I am aware that it was clearly a toxic environment and that I shouldn't blame myself for what happened but the boss was really unprofessional and now I had to live with these consequences. I was very sad and I didn't know what the future reserved for me, but I was sure that it would never be as good as psychology.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.

Go directly to university in psychology.

I went directly to the University of Montreal, and I was very happy. My life turned out really great and with this internship I knew for a fact that psychology was meant for me. I am sure that the future reserves only positive stuff for me because psychology is the right path for myself.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.

Decide if I want to volunteer abroad to gain more experience.

I decided that I wanted to try this experience of volunteering abroad. It had many advantages, such as having a purpose of being a psychologist and realizing how I could change people's lives. In my head, this experience would be invaluable and give my life a purpose. That is the reason why I decided to go through with this project and volunteer abroad in a disadvantaged country where they could benefit from my help. Volunteering abroad could even help me get a premium wage when I came back to Canada because of my invaluable experience.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.

Find another job in the mental health psychology department.

Now, that I have quit my job, I have to find another one that will suit me. I started searching for a whole month when I finally found exactly what I wanted. It wasn't the job who pays the most in psychology, but the people and the place was really what I wanted. That's when I realized that it didn't matter to retire and be rich, what really mattered to me was to appreciate my job and the work environment.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.

Accept the promotion that was offered to me.

I accepted the promotion and my wage was way higher than before. I was in charge of more files than before and I absolutely loved it. I immediately started to put in place some new rules and I started to save my money to have a better retirement. If, I continued on this path I would be able to retire rich and happy with what I have done with my life and finally let go of the drive of work.

Choice 1 : Let's start from the beginning.