It's Been Almost a Year Now
I am getting ready to go to my surgeon for my (hopefully) last post-surgery check on the knee that had to be operated on last December. It has been a long, LONG year of questions, realizations, and therapy.
I have come to the conclusion that every therapist should have to go through therapy for something that they didn't want to happen to them in the first place. Having little to no choice is something that makes for interesting revelations about yourself during the process. It's one thing to say something like, "Well, I think that being in therapy is a professional responsibility," and a completely different thing to say, "I have to go to therapy to get better." I've done both, and I can tell you, the second statement is the one that led me into greater insights into myself as a person, a patient, and a therapist.
I have one more test to go through before I can be released from care. It will be with my physical therapist, a great guy who pushed me into all sorts of things that I did not like, but also one who knew that I needed that pushing. He coddled when I needed coddling, he reflected on the progress made when needed. and he pushed me into doing things that I was uncomfortable doing - over and over again.
I was able to hear the "therapist" patter coming out of his mouth when it was about time to terminate my physical therapy sessions. I recognized the speech and could understand it as well as appreciate it. I had the opportunity to be on the other side of things for a change, and I found it fascinating.
Being a therapist means being someone who cares, but can we truly care if we don't experience what it is to be in the situation our clients find themselves in? Can you really assure someone that their pain is something to cope with when you haven't had to cope with something similar? I know that I work with kids who have had situations that I have never had to experience. I don't think I can truly understand their lives. So, can I truly be their therapist? Yes, I think I can, but I cannot project an air of understanding what they are going through. I cannot completely understand it.
It's been almost a year since my knee was fixed. It's been 18 months since my knee was broken. I am still dealing with it - with the experience of being broken, with the experience of being physically fixed, and with the experience of continuing to be emotionally fixed. As you can read above, I am a work in progress.
This work in progress is going to go to work for the last day of this week. Tomorrow's plan? Grocery shopping and cooking.
Almost a year. Wow.
I have come to the conclusion that every therapist should have to go through therapy for something that they didn't want to happen to them in the first place. Having little to no choice is something that makes for interesting revelations about yourself during the process. It's one thing to say something like, "Well, I think that being in therapy is a professional responsibility," and a completely different thing to say, "I have to go to therapy to get better." I've done both, and I can tell you, the second statement is the one that led me into greater insights into myself as a person, a patient, and a therapist.
I have one more test to go through before I can be released from care. It will be with my physical therapist, a great guy who pushed me into all sorts of things that I did not like, but also one who knew that I needed that pushing. He coddled when I needed coddling, he reflected on the progress made when needed. and he pushed me into doing things that I was uncomfortable doing - over and over again.
I was able to hear the "therapist" patter coming out of his mouth when it was about time to terminate my physical therapy sessions. I recognized the speech and could understand it as well as appreciate it. I had the opportunity to be on the other side of things for a change, and I found it fascinating.
Being a therapist means being someone who cares, but can we truly care if we don't experience what it is to be in the situation our clients find themselves in? Can you really assure someone that their pain is something to cope with when you haven't had to cope with something similar? I know that I work with kids who have had situations that I have never had to experience. I don't think I can truly understand their lives. So, can I truly be their therapist? Yes, I think I can, but I cannot project an air of understanding what they are going through. I cannot completely understand it.
It's been almost a year since my knee was fixed. It's been 18 months since my knee was broken. I am still dealing with it - with the experience of being broken, with the experience of being physically fixed, and with the experience of continuing to be emotionally fixed. As you can read above, I am a work in progress.
This work in progress is going to go to work for the last day of this week. Tomorrow's plan? Grocery shopping and cooking.
Almost a year. Wow.
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