Being a Therapist

I have always been really interested in social work and therapy yet I know it's very hard to get into and the pay is low. I think it is a great was to help people and I've always loved helping friends out by listening to problems that they have. When it was mentioned that after hearing stories about abuse and severe problems in the lives of others that you start to get very paranoid and it does in fact conflict with your life outside of work. So honestly I think after hearing a bit more about the job actually made me less into the idea of being a therapy. But there are many similar things like therapy involving social work that I could do. That option is still open for me though:)