Ennui

My life as a school-based music therapist is generally one of routine and constant thinking. I spend lots of time each day analyzing behaviors and adjusting musical interventions to shift behaviors. I have a certain amount of interpersonal contact during the day, and enjoy going home to refresh in solitude.

I am an introvert to the highest degree. I really need alone time in order to get ready to interact with others. This alone time helps me to think about what I do each day as well as to pursue activities that I love.

My problem currently is vacation. I spend lots of time on vacation alone. This is a good thing, for a time, but eventually I need to be around people. Now, I have been around people, but I don't have friends in my town. All of my friends live away from here, so I am not able to see them when I want to do so. I go out to the theater, to the movies, to the shops to be around folks.





I am bored. I need opportunities to be bored. Once I hit this stage, I start to look around my home, and I start to make plans about what I will do with my music therapy clients when I get back into the full-time routine. I am to that point now with 10 days of vacation left to go. 


There are many things that I should/could do at this time, but I am not motivated to do any of them. I am reveling in my boredom, but am also chafing against it.

I need a problem to solve.

Let's look around my current environment to see if there is a problem that engages my interest.

Hmmm. I am currently sitting at my desk, watching television. I have some music therapy texts within reach, a weather bear waiting to be cut out and Velcroed, my SPSS texts, and electronic bits and pieces. My digital camera is within reach, and I have an adaptive cuff that I made out of plastic canvas.

So, thoughts on how to keep myself from escaping into the morass and depression of boredom based on the materials within reach right now...

The music therapy texts are out. I don't want to get involved in reading Gaston, Bruscia, Jorgenson (actually, a Music Ed text), or other theoretical writings right now. I am not in that type of mood.

Weather Bear is definitely a possibility. I made a large version of a file folder Weather Bear that I developed. The finished bear will be about 2' tall with a variety of clothing options to illustrate different ways to dress to accommodate weather conditions. I can use some of my scrapbooking papers to make some funky clothing for my bear. This could work and would keep me entertained while I watch old tv shows. I'll post a picture when I'm done with the Weather Bear. I'll also post the plan on how to use the material as a music therapy experience.

Thanks for reading as I put this together. Tomorrow, I will be cleaning out my bedroom so I can steam clean the carpet in there. Doesn't that sound like fun??

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