Favorite Things Friday: Friday

FRIDAY

(need I say more?)

Recently, I've waxed rhapsodical about things like Post-Its and other mundane little things that are very important to my sense of doing things. Today, I am going to talk about the fact that it is Friday.

Friday is my favorite day of the work week for several reasons. At my job, Friday has always been a day where the responsibility and requirements of group therapy have been non-existent. We provide therapy treatment, Mondays through Thursdays, for the simple reason that we try to sustain a schedule during the summer months when we do not work on Fridays. It is difficult to cram all of the Friday treatment sessions into a 4-day workweek when those 4 days are already full. So, we plan all of our treatment into the Monday-Thursday week. Fridays have always been a day for additional support or treatment, but not related to group coverage and teacher preparation time.

Right now, Fridays are long and boring for me. With the prohibition of doing things like walking or standing for periods of time, I am unable to ensure that I can safely manage a client's aggressive behaviors. As a result, I have lots of time in the music therapy room. Alone. This is simultaneously good for me and extremely boring for me.

It's good for me to have planning and preparation time. I don't usually get the 6 1/2 hours of planning time that I am entitled to. Now I have planning time in spades. I'm not using my time as well as I could (GOBLIN!), but I am getting better.

It's boring for me because I am not using my time well. I have some things that I need to do but cannot because I can't climb onto the stool in order to organize and clean up, so I get a bit bogged down in what I want and need to do but can't. In order to shake myself out of those moods, I spend time outside of the REALLY small music therapy room sitting on the hallway benches by the windows. People walk past me, and I think.

When I said I am getting better about using my time, I meant that I have started thinking about productive uses for my time. I have some client projects to organize, so I'm going to take my laptop and sit in the window benches to write those projects. (Come to think of it, there may not be any electricity by those windows... I may have to sit by some other windows... hmmm.) I have also noticed, in my light duty time, that we, as a collective staff, are having some difficulties with remembering our Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, so I am going to set up some boosts and reminders about what we are supposed to be doing rather than what we are currently doing. That's also a laptop kind of job.

My other favorite thing about Friday is that it is the beginning of the weekend. Saturdays are my day off (some of the time - some time I have OCMT job stuff to do), so I spend as much of that day as possible doing what I want to do - whatever that may be. Friday afternoon is the start of my Saturday mini-break. It is wonderful to know that there are limited responsibilities the next day. I will start the laundry, make some entrees for the next couple of weeks, and talk to family members about what happened during their days. I will read a trashy novel with little to no educationally redeeming value, and I'll dream about what I want to do next. The cat will sit next to me, purring and snoozing, and we'll both be relaxed.

That's the promise of Friday to me.

Have a great day, everyone! Happy Friday.