When Life Intrudes
I woke up this morning to find a flood in my guest bathroom.
Don't you love it when you find things happening that were unplanned, unexpected, and that interrupt your plans? I am being very sarcastic right now.
One of the things that I have been talking to my current intern about is how to be a therapist - self-actualized, confident, healthy, and giving without giving it all away. We discussed that being a therapist does not mean that you have to completely give up on a personal life, but that it does mean you have to be able to compartmentalize many of your personal issues. When you can't compartmentalize, it is time to take some time away from the clinic.
There are times when I am unable to focus on being a therapist. I have other things that are running through my head instead of what the client is doing during our musical interaction. On days like today,with a flooded bathroom, I would be wondering about the maintenance call, about the cat and whether she was being nice, about the mess that I had to clean up, about any number of things unrelated to music therapy. That therapist is not the best therapist that I can be.
The best therapist I can be and strive to be everyday is one that is able to focus on the client and the music we make together without being overly distracted by other things in my life. I feel it is my responsibility to leave my own concerns outside of the music therapy session. If there are things that distract me too much, I owe it to myself and to my client to take care of those things.
My plan for today is to clean up the flood, put in a call to the maintenance department, clean the apartment so the maintenance folks can come in and fix things, and go to work. I do not have to be at work next week (it is Spring Break), so I can focus on this rather than trying to focus on this and my clients.
Life happens.
Don't you love it when you find things happening that were unplanned, unexpected, and that interrupt your plans? I am being very sarcastic right now.
One of the things that I have been talking to my current intern about is how to be a therapist - self-actualized, confident, healthy, and giving without giving it all away. We discussed that being a therapist does not mean that you have to completely give up on a personal life, but that it does mean you have to be able to compartmentalize many of your personal issues. When you can't compartmentalize, it is time to take some time away from the clinic.
There are times when I am unable to focus on being a therapist. I have other things that are running through my head instead of what the client is doing during our musical interaction. On days like today,with a flooded bathroom, I would be wondering about the maintenance call, about the cat and whether she was being nice, about the mess that I had to clean up, about any number of things unrelated to music therapy. That therapist is not the best therapist that I can be.
The best therapist I can be and strive to be everyday is one that is able to focus on the client and the music we make together without being overly distracted by other things in my life. I feel it is my responsibility to leave my own concerns outside of the music therapy session. If there are things that distract me too much, I owe it to myself and to my client to take care of those things.
My plan for today is to clean up the flood, put in a call to the maintenance department, clean the apartment so the maintenance folks can come in and fix things, and go to work. I do not have to be at work next week (it is Spring Break), so I can focus on this rather than trying to focus on this and my clients.
Life happens.
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