“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” 

Mahatma Gandhi

This unique phrase has stuck with me throughout my college experience, especially as a human service major. When I graduated high school, I didn’t know what my life would be or look like. I always had a passion and love for children. I use to help out my mother when she would babysit, and I would also take care of my younger sister, cousins, and even family friends. The ability to care for and love children were always something that stuck with me because I felt very passionate about it. I now work and assist at a daycare with children from infant to two years old. Choosing human services as my major felt right being that I have the experience of working with children and the characteristics of a human services professional. Characteristics such as being a good listener, empathetic, compassionate, and having the desire to help others. 

When I began my college experience in City Tech, I was assigned a mentor to help assist with anything educational and even personal information. She was the one that told me about this phrase by Gandhi. My mentor was studying in the same field, human services, as for me and was very passionate about her goals. She was the reason I didn’t want to give up when I felt discouraged about school. She guided me through every course I took, gave me advice, proofread my assignments, and helped with any service I needed like contact information of professors, links to websites for free textbooks, etc. Seeing her do this for not only me but other newbies in the human services department and also doing her work and personal life, made me realize how much someone can care about another individual. And I believe that’s what a human services professional is all about. 

Having the ability to care and assist for others and putting others before yourself when in need is what I look forward to doing in my career. As a future social worker or child specialist, it will be my duty to serve those in need. I believe it’ll be something I’ll be good at being that I have most characteristics of a helper and human service professional. In my friendships and relationships, I am always genuine, I’m always the one people come to for advice, and being kind and respectful is important in this field. Furthermore, working with children especially has always been something I find myself enjoying and naturally achieving. 

The human services community is all about human dignity. It’s about helping people find stability and providing basic needs like counseling, food, shelter, treatments for substance abuse, etc. It is about helping others reach their goals, encouraging self-sufficiency, and enabling happiness in their lives, not only their lives but ours also. Gandhi’s quote means putting the needs of others before your own will bring you closer to appreciating yourself. When I work with children or even help out other individuals, it brings me a sense of peace and purity knowing that I’ve made a change in someone else’s life.