To be endorsed in the State of Washington to ride a motorcycle, you have to pass a written test to get your permit, and a skills test to get your license. This test is designed to be a fair evaluation of your skills. It includes a cone weave, doing a quick stop, turning from a stop, swerving, and a U-turn in 20 feet. To be transparent, I don't usually have test anxiety, but that lack of anxiety comes from preparing for the test beforehand. So, my fiancée has been kind enough to help me learn the skills for my test that I am supposed to learn on Saturday in the class I have signed up for. I'm not out of the woods yet, but at least I'm making progress!
This process has made me reflect on other big tests I've had to take over the course of my life. I barely remember the SAT, or the psychology GRE at the end of my bachelors. Recently I've had to take two long multiple choice examinations in order to get my professional licenses. But these tests don't stand out as the types of tests that really evaluate the skills they want to evaluate. When I try to think of tests that evaluate important life skills, I think of my grad school comprehensive examination. In this examination, we had to complete and defend a thesis style paper about our theory of human nature and counseling, conceptualize a client from this viewpoint, videotape and then transcribe a session in which we utilize skills and concepts from our theory in the session. While presenting this, we had to be open to feedback from our professors about our strengths and weaknesses. Now, when you have put your whole heart and soul into articulating your understanding of people and how they work, and videotaped yourself acting in that way, it can be quite challenging to then accept feedback about how you were right or wrong in your conceptualization. And yet, that was the point of the experience. As a counselor, I have to be open to feedback from my clients, my supervisors, lawyers, judges, co-workers, and administrative workers. Ignoring feedback from any one of these people could compromise my job, and often it informs what direction I need to take with my client. Because with everything in life, there are limits. There are limits to insurance, there are limits to confidentiality, there are limits to people's goodwill toward you. And all of these things affect a counseling relationship whether we want them to or not.
In the same way, as I learn to ride a motorcycle, I need to stay open to feedback. I have had moments where this is easy, and moments where this is hard. But, with my lack of experience, I need to stay open to feedback that tells me what I am doing right, which skills I need to work on, and what aspects of my environment I completely overlooked. It is only in staying open to this feedback that I will be able to become a safe and competent rider.
Tests are designed to evaluate what we know. Everything in life can present a test in its own way. My goal is to stay open to feedback each day of my life, allowing myself to really hear what the other person is trying to communicate, and reflecting on how it applies to me or my situation. When the big tests come, I hope to have the skills and the support in order to meet them with confidence. And meanwhile, I hope I pass my motorcycle endorsement test this Saturday.
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