Turning the Corner
My sister, a second-grade teacher, actually took most of the summer off. Now, you may be thinking, "Of course, she did. She doesn't get paid to work during the summer, so she always takes the summers off!" But, oh dear reader, that it is the furthest thing from the truth. She has not taken a summer off in years. She generally goes in and rearranges her room, makes copies of worksheets, updates her technology on site, and spends time at school. This year, however, she turned in her keys and did not go to work for almost two months!
She started the summer enjoying being at home, but very quickly started thinking about her job again. I knew she was ready to be back in her classroom when she had a brainstorm! She decided to change her classroom theme from Winnie the Pooh (theme for the past 14 years) to Cars! The change gave her something to organize and work on while she was not able to get into her classroom. For the past two weeks, however, she has been in her classroom every day the school has been open.
This story personifies the women in my family. We enjoy our work, feel that we need some time off, but cannot seem to keep our minds on vacation. My mother, an Occupational Therapist, has spent most of her summer working in the garden, organizing her plethora of therapeutic stuff, and thinking about the sessions she will run starting next week. My sister and I have inherited that work ethic and joy in our work.
I have four days of vacation left. The past ten days have been full of planning, boredom, cleaning, and chores. The next four days will probably be focused on what I want to do when I get back to work on Friday. I have started my "work stuff corner," the place where I am stashing everything that needs to be taken to my music therapy room. I am thinking about what I will be doing with my intern next week. I am practicing my guitar songs and am going through all of my ideas to pull out TMEs from the past to introduce to my current clients.
In my opinion, breaks from our work routine are essential for us to get back into a working frame of mind. I know they are for me. I need periods of time to refresh my interest in being a therapist. Maybe this is part of my introversion - I like being alone, occasionally crave being alone, and need to be alone, but I also enjoy being around other people. It often takes two weeks of isolation for me to turn the corner from being tired of being around people, tired of being therapist and supervisor, and to move into a feeling of being refreshed and ready to interact with my clients.
It is now time to do the laundry, steam clean the bedroom carpet, and make some file folder activities for my clients. Time to get ready to go. I am almost ready.
She started the summer enjoying being at home, but very quickly started thinking about her job again. I knew she was ready to be back in her classroom when she had a brainstorm! She decided to change her classroom theme from Winnie the Pooh (theme for the past 14 years) to Cars! The change gave her something to organize and work on while she was not able to get into her classroom. For the past two weeks, however, she has been in her classroom every day the school has been open.
This story personifies the women in my family. We enjoy our work, feel that we need some time off, but cannot seem to keep our minds on vacation. My mother, an Occupational Therapist, has spent most of her summer working in the garden, organizing her plethora of therapeutic stuff, and thinking about the sessions she will run starting next week. My sister and I have inherited that work ethic and joy in our work.
I have four days of vacation left. The past ten days have been full of planning, boredom, cleaning, and chores. The next four days will probably be focused on what I want to do when I get back to work on Friday. I have started my "work stuff corner," the place where I am stashing everything that needs to be taken to my music therapy room. I am thinking about what I will be doing with my intern next week. I am practicing my guitar songs and am going through all of my ideas to pull out TMEs from the past to introduce to my current clients.
In my opinion, breaks from our work routine are essential for us to get back into a working frame of mind. I know they are for me. I need periods of time to refresh my interest in being a therapist. Maybe this is part of my introversion - I like being alone, occasionally crave being alone, and need to be alone, but I also enjoy being around other people. It often takes two weeks of isolation for me to turn the corner from being tired of being around people, tired of being therapist and supervisor, and to move into a feeling of being refreshed and ready to interact with my clients.
It is now time to do the laundry, steam clean the bedroom carpet, and make some file folder activities for my clients. Time to get ready to go. I am almost ready.
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