There Are No Wrong Doors
I was in my last year of college when I started seeing doors.
By that time, I knew the UNM campus so well that I could float around with my nose in a book while my feet carried me from class to class. My passion for my major couldn't have been more intense, and I found myself wondering... what direction can I take that ensures I'll always stay in this field?
Graduation grew closer with each month and the options unrolled in front of me like carpets going in different directions. Which career path would I take - which LIFE path would I take?
I imagined myself in a circular room, surrounded by doors like Alice in Wonderland. It felt heavy. Would I shrink if I walked through one? Fall down a rabbit hole if I opened another?
At the time, I was fully immersed in Positive Psychology and international medicine. I was working as a teaching assistant for Psyc454 and a student mentor under Dr. Bruce Smith. One day, as if right on time, he introduced Joseph Campbell's metaphor of the "Hero's Journey" and used it in the context of our own wellbeing. That class truly sculpted the lens through which I view all obstacles in my life.
In essence, every major story - movie, book, play - follows the same allegory: a hero is led to self-discovery and wellbeing through navigation life's challenges. These challenges might be quests, inner turmoil, or difficult conditions, but they aren't detours. They are the path. They shape the journey to personal growth, self-fulfillment, and authenticity.
Something in me clicked- like the final move in a perfect game of Tetris.
Why was I afraid of these doors when they were actually opportunities for adventure?
I realized that challenges and obstacles are inevitable- uncertainty isn't something to fear- it is something to walk towards. Obstacles are conquerable and simply part of carving out our lives, no matter which door we walk through.
I chose the door of becoming a natural medicine provider. I applied to graduate school in Washington, ready to continue the journey toward being a provider. But in true Hero’s Journey fashion, a quest appeared that led me in a different direction. That quest’s name is Sally Rose Kweskin— my daughter— an unexpected, beautiful treasure. The path shifted, placing me in the role of a provider in an even more authentic way. I stepped into the shoes of curanderismo—an ancestral healing art of my New Mexico heritage—and began blending it with my international studies in medicine, along with every license and certification I could get my hands on. I wanted to practice hands-on with patients in the most effective, aligned way possible. At the same time, I blossomed into motherhood. What unfolded was a deeply fulfilling career rooted exactly in my passion… even though it looked nothing like the door I originally chose. In fact, it wasn’t even on the menu.
There is no wrong door.
This is my life.
My adventure.
My Hero's Journey.
So if you're feeling weighed down by fear or anxious about the future, just know- everything you encounter is part of your story.
And you are more than capable of rising to meet it.
Author: Kathleen Jaramillo LMT RYT RMT
