music, therapy, and me

It's the beginning of the month which means little around here except that it is time to get my month in order. If you are familiar with my blog and way of doing things, then you know that I am a pen and paper person rather than a digital calendar person. I have been using an agenda or planner for most of my life, and I enjoy the routine of writing things down. I have two planners that I design and use on a regular basis. The first is my personal planner. I keep track of chores, appointments, celebrations, and all sorts of stuff in that calendar. My current personal planner is a red covered dot grid journal that I bought from Michaels when they had a buy one, get one sale. I tend to stock up on blank books when those types of sales happen. I have a set pattern for setting up this planner - one week per spread with limited changes to the format. My second journal is my work planner. This is the one that has changed the most recently because my work has shifted from an out-of-home jo...

Friday has come around again, and the first pension payment is sitting in my bank account which is nice because I was terrified that it wouldn't arrive on time. Thankfully, it did, so I get a chance to pay my bills tomorrow without fearing an overdraft. It is amazing how much anxiety comes with money, so it is nice to have that particular fear dissipate this morning. It is Friday which means it is time for something fun - well, fun for me at least. I am trying to establish a routine for my tasks. I want Fridays to be fun as part of my regular routine. I want to do things that are joy-filled and that make me feel happy. For now, that means playing with paper and working on some challenge projects.  The challenge I have for this week includes using Santa Claus, lace, buttons, envelopes, and one more thing (I forget what) to make something. I don't know what I will end up making, but I will figure something out. In order to get this project going, I have to focus on the crafting p...

I am always the most content with myself when I am thinking through a big project. This type of project can be one that allows me to fix a pain point for either myself or for others. It is something that is just interesting to me and something that makes me want to engage in problem-solving. I am developing several projects at the moment, and this is something that is becoming an interesting exercise in project management as well as in attention. I have things to do with various thoughts that I am having - mostly in the realm of "let's talk about this" projects rather than "let's make this" projects, but it is interesting to me how my brain flits from place to place. This is one of the reasons that I have my book to write things down as they occur to me. At this moment, I remembered that I have a Zoom meeting because of my book. I have to be there since I am moderating the session! I also have a couple of laminating projects to do to finish up another idea, ...

It has been an interesting journey so far, this whole "not having a full-time job" thing. I am not sleeping the same way. I am not moving the same way. I have less pain happening in my body which is such a good thing, but I am bored with what I have to do. I am back to watching "Desperate Housewives" to give me something new to experience that isn't Korean dramas. I am someone who thrives with routine. I miss having the routine of getting up and getting ready to go somewhere. I miss having a schedule that is predictable, but I am also happy to have time here at home to just do what I want to do when I want to do it. Yesterday, I traveled east about 30 miles to go to a store that specializes in Japanese products. There are tons of these stores in California that I go to when I am visiting my Mom and my sister, but there are not as many out here in Kansas, so I made a trip especially for that store.  I arrived early (of course), and ended up strolling around one s...

One of the things that is interesting about this job of music therapy is that there are creative needs that never really end. I just finished my sing about the ocean  packet ( available here, by the way !), and now it is time to finish up the next sing about   songs edition for the month of October. If you are unaware, I try to release my monthly subscription about three months in advance so you have the resources available well before the month arrives. I find that composing music and coming up with ways to use songs in sessions with a variety of clients keeps me engaged and thinking. When I talk with other music therapists, I hear things like "I feel like I'm in a rut with what I do with my clients," and I get that. I understand that and have written about it over and over for many years now. Ruts happen, especially when the rigors of the job demand that the creative process take second place to working on the actual act of therapy. So, one of my projects for this week...

I did not do much this weekend as far as making things was concerned, but I did start two presentations for our conference in two Saturdays from now and worked on the books that I have in progress, so that's something. I started a course on Skillshare all about digital marketing. It is 12 hours long, so I have lots to do with it, but I think I will make this part of my evening routine. I have been having some trouble sleeping lately, and I think it has to do with how I am spending much of my leisure hours. I am going to try an experiment to see if I can get to sleep more easily than in the recent weeks. It is strange that my sleep schedule is so messed up, so I am going to try to reestablish a routine again. I am a month into my retirement break, and I feel the need to do more than I am doing right now. This was part of the plan to take time off before heading back into the workforce, but I am starting to itch a bit about going back to a work routine. My problem is that I don't...