Helping people overcome the challenges of life.
That's what I've been doing for over 30 years now. Although the love affair with psychotherapy probably started much earlier, I distinctly remember the first time I put a foot on a Psychodrama stage and thought to myself, "Self. You were born to do this thing". And you know what? I was. So I got trained to do it. Eventually, I trained others to do it. It was such a great way to teach. People really got it. They walked away with skills.
I grew up in two different countries, two different cultures and two different languages. Sometimes it got really difficult, but the balance was positive: I learned them both so well I became a native speaker of both English and Portuguese. As if that wasn't enough of a challenge, I moved to Ecuador with a young daughter and learned Spanish!
While I was there, I got married to this wonderful Canadian guy who got moved around a lot. I went along because he was worth it. As a result, I got more training in how to overcome the challenges of life. Some of it was up front and center. I was the one learning it for my own life. But some of challenge-training was professional. It came in the form of opportunities to learn by doing, in jobs, consultancy, courses and volunteer work.
And then I started writing. I had started writing so I wouldn't go insane during a nasty divorce from my first husband. I had to write or I would explode. That's when I wrote, "When the Bond Breaks". (http://amzn.to/1HZBbK9) I found a voice I didn't know I had. Some of it was hard work, but I learned to enjoy it. I didn't always know where it was coming from, but I knew it was sacred. I just had to keep doing it. I couldn't stop.
With time, writing turned into articles. The articles turned into books. I never thought I could write long enough to get a whole book done. But I did. And then other books poured out. It was funny how some came out in one language and others in another. So I translated them. And then folks wanted them in the third language, so I got that done, too.
So now you know how it happened.
What do I write about? I write about how we can overcome the challenges of life. Some of it is professional, but most of it is written for the gal/guy next door, so they can figure out what to do with their life, where to go for help, what kind of help is out there. Sometimes I will tell you - but not too often - what I went through. What I'm going through. That's when I bleed a little. Most of the time, I tell other people's stories. Those are sacred, too; especially sacred, because we walked through the valley of the shadow of death together and came out on the other side.
You want to know how to overcome the challenges of life? Read some of my books. Come over to my website: www.eslycarvalho.com You just might find something there for you.
