Two More Weeks

I am on Summer Break from my full-time job as a school music therapist. It has been four days now, and I am already starting to get restless. This is a good sign - restlessness often means productivity. I decide to do something and finish jobs. It doesn't generally start so quickly in a break, but that's just the way it is today.

In the past four days, I have had a couple of brainstorms, a very successful blog post (see the one right before this one for information on Sing a Song Sundays), taken most of the stuff out of the craft room, laminated things for my giveaway, and have made lots of meals. These things are very good and are helpful to my well being, but I still have 14 days before I get back into my routine. Fourteen days to fill with something...

Self-care should ALWAYS include fuzzy slippers!

I have always needed solitary time and make time alone a priority in my self-care plan. Recently, there has been lots of discussion in the music therapy world about self-care. I think that self-care is one of the most important skills that a therapist (any therapist) can learn. I have a self-care plan and hope that others do as well.

My self-care plan has never been extremely formal, but now I'm thinking it is time to write something down. Maybe something along the lines of a vision board for self-care. Something that could be personalized for each therapist that needs it. I wonder if there is something out there already. Probably, but who knows without searching. (Thank you for indulging my brainstorming process here!)

So, for me, self-care includes time away from work, solitary time for renewal, talking to my fellow creative arts therapist (an informal supervision structure, I guess), creating things, eating food, and taking naps. I also spend time writing in my supervision journal (the journal that I keep to be an example to my interns), writing on this blog, and writing therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) for my clients. I also spend time cuddling with my cat and just listening to her purr. I limit my time on Pinterest (for some reason, Pinterest brings out my shoulda, woulda, coulda goblins more than anything), and I don't read every email that comes over the music therapy listserv. I try to avoid things and people that are toxic to my wellbeing, and I try to express my emotions as they occur rather than stuffing them down deep.

Self-care has always been a part of my therapeutic viewpoint. This was a gift that I was given by one of my professors during my undergraduate education. She emphasized our need for self-care through talking about burn-out. We discussed how to recognize the symptoms of burn-out and had some discussions about how to avoid it as well. In the years since, I have had many episodes where I felt that I was heading towards burn-out, but I was able to work through those episodes and emerge a stronger therapist. I thank Dr. Clair for giving me the awareness to understand what was happening during those times, but I do think that my self-care plan came from me. Each of us has to learn how to counteract burn-out in our own ways in order to survive burn-out, compassion fatigue, or whatever we want to call it.

Now, with fourteen days ahead, I am finding myself in a state of boredom. Sigh. There are plenty of things that I could and should be doing (goblins!), and I will get to those things because they simply have to be done. I will also take some time to stop what I have to do to do things that I simply want to do. For example, right now I want to listen to the birds sing and watch the sky get lighter with the dawn. So, I will end this and fill part of my break doing just that...

Take some time for you, readers! You deserve it and probably need it as well!