Life speeds by...

It is May.

This is one of my busiest months as a school music therapist. The talent show is next Friday, graduation is six days later, and summer school plans have to be made before school is finished for summer break. All of this in addition to the normal pattern of music therapy sessions and work responsibilities. I am slowly losing my mind since there are also papers to write, treatment plans to coordinate, visual aids to laminate, AMTA work to be done, and many other things to do. In addition, I have been sick for the past three months and am finally starting to feel better, but am still requiring LOTS of sleep.

I got so caught up in the flood of things that have piled up that I forgot to pay my rent this month. So, here it is on the 6th, and I have just now paid my rent. This is an unusual situation for me - just the rent portion of this particular rant, not the lots of things part.

In moments like this, I have to simplify my life. 

In the next days, I will be writing down all of the things that I need to do. (I really like lists.) Then, I will assign a priority number to each item. This task helps me to carve out time for each and every thing that needs to be done. When I have finished an item on my list, I get to cross it off!


This may sound simple, but it is one of my coping strategies.


Once the list is made, I can plot my timeline for the next two weeks. I identify when each task will be addressed.


Some things are easy to prioritize. My paper will be finished by tomorrow evening. Other things are less easy. The AMTA work will be done when I can fit it in. Graduation song rehearsal is happening on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next two weeks. The plans for summer school have to be finished by next Tuesday. The formats for sessions for summer school do not have to be addressed until after school is on summer break. Visual aids can always wait until other things have been completed. With the list, I can do anything!


The one thing lacking in this blog diatribe is the musical aspect.


I have to find ways to put music into my life other than what I do for my clients. At times like these when I feel overwhelmed, my personal musical processes are often shoved to the side. So, on my list, I will place times for either making or listening to music as part of my self-care plan.


Off to plan the next 14 days. Wish me luck!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Repetition

Image
One of the things that I find to be helpful with my client population (children, adolescents, and young adults with dual diagnoses) is repetition of phrases, lyrics, and music. As a result of 30+ years of working with this population in various iterations, I have found that my clients respond the most to songs with three repeated phrases to prime their responses with a different phrase to communicate the important part of the experience. DISCLAIMER: This is not a definite way to write music for clinical interactions. This is what seems to work well with my particular group of human beings. Don't go to your supervisors and tell them that I told you that this is the ONLY way to write music - It is NOT! You have to find what works for your clients and for their clinical goals. Since my clients respond well to this type of song, I tend to write songs in this format more than any other. What I have found is that my clients remember these songs more than the ones that I do in different f...
Read more

Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

Image
It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...
Read more