{"id":23894,"date":"2026-09-24T09:49:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=23894"},"modified":"2026-09-24T09:49:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:49:26","slug":"dr-sudduth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2026\/09\/24\/dr-sudduth\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Sudduth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

For years now, I\u2019ve been dreaming of the title \u201cDr.\u201d being by my name, never \u201cMrs.\u201d Of course, getting married and maybe even having kids one day is something I would consider an achievement, but not a priority. This <\/span>priority <\/span><\/i>that I have is making sure I\u2019m fulfilled in this lifetime, while also helping others. The way I want to help people is through mental health support. I know how important it is to be incorporated into society\u2014especially since <\/span>I <\/span><\/i>was one of the many people who <\/span>suffer from the lack of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019m a junior in high school, I\u2019m really starting to understand that I don\u2019t have a lot of time left. I\u2019ve been trying to focus more on my schoolwork and refining the things that I\u2019m good at, but I can\u2019t help but feel this anxiety within. I\u2019d say that I\u2019m nervous to start living\u2014I mean, I <\/span>am<\/span><\/i> living, but what I mean is taking full control of my life. Like, the fact that whatever I do from now on is going to affect me in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone tells me I\u2019m so responsible, so resilient, so confident. Everyone is so sure that I\u2019ll be successful and make a <\/span>minimum <\/span><\/i>of six figures. They don\u2019t realize I\u2019m fragile like them, so they expect the best from me. With my timidness, my stutter, the way I cry at minor inconveniences. (I\u2019m working on that.) What <\/em><\/span>if I let them down?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It may not even be <\/span>me<\/span><\/i> letting them down. What if the world comes crashing down, and I can\u2019t become Dr. Sudduth? Psychology is a male-dominated profession after all, and I\u2019m just a black girl from a small town in Mississippi. Sometimes I feel like it\u2019s not even worth trying to aim that far in life. It\u2019s rigorous, competitive, and grueling, so what if I fall out of love with it at the last second? Right before I become Dr. Sudduth, I suddenly don\u2019t want to be her anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea of falling out of love with my passion or letting everyone down is truly haunting, but I\u2019m not going to let it hinder me. Simply because of my own story. How I grew up, the people around me, and the community I live in (and for some reason still have love for) fuel my love for psychology. I know that getting help and recovering from trauma, yet still being a good person, exists because I am living proof of that. I have every right to be inconsiderate, ill-mannered, and downright violent, but I don\u2019t choose to feed into that negativity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, I chose to work on myself and be kind to those around me. I know everybody goes through hell, so why not be a place for hurting people to heal? The thought of a child like me struggling to survive hurts me in a way I cannot explain. Maybe I have a soft spot for kids\u2014maybe I am soft. Either way, I know helping people is something I\u2019ve been called to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, whenever I do get to become Dr. Sudduth, I will make sure that I stay dedicated to my work. Doing research for black and brown women’s mental health (since no one else wants to). Maybe I\u2019ll open my own practice. Or work for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Maybe I\u2019ll even get married and have kids of my own one day. <\/span><\/p>\n

Probably\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years now, I\u2019ve been dreaming of the title \u201cDr.\u201d being by my name, never \u201cMrs.\u201d Of course, getting married and maybe even having kids one day is something I would consider an achievement, but not a priority. This priority that I have is making sure I\u2019m fulfilled in this lifetime, while also helping others. … Continue reading “Dr. Sudduth”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23894"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23894"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23984,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23894\/revisions\/23984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}