Thoughtful Thursday - Stand Out

This week's thought sitting on my desk was this gem from Sarah Ban Breathnach. Apparently, Ms. Breathnach wrote several books in the mid-late 90's and early 00's about finding gratitude in simple things. The first book, Simple Abundance, debuted in 1995 and encouraged women "to search for the small and the sweet in our daily round with appreciation and awe..." (http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Ban-Breathnach/e/B000AP8V60).

There is much to think about when you start to examine the things that go on in your own life. There is satisfaction to be had when you realize that what you have is abundance, but there is something to be said for looking forward to new challenges and goals.

I don't really feel like I am one who demonstrates this particular quotation very well. I have spent lots of my life trying to fit into situations, groups, cliques, and ideas that have not really been my place. It has taken me lots of time to realize that, if I have to work so hard to fit in, then I don't need or even want to be part of said group, idea, clique, or situation. If I have to be someone that I'm not, then I shouldn't be trying to be there. It is my job to be the authentic me - not what someone else wants me to be.

The problem with standing out - outside the expectations of others, outside trying to break into something - is that it can be lonely.

I enjoy reading the work of The Bloggess. WARNING - She can be profane. She also speaks about her particular brand of living life. She is open about the diagnoses that she's accrued over her life, and she talks about the challenges of living her life. I find her to be inspiring, especially when I am mired in my own minutiae. From the things she's written about her life, she has always been the one who stood out. She writes about not understanding why she was unable to be part of things that others wanted to do - I can relate to that on a different type of degree - and how she felt about feeling isolated and alone all the time. The blog has found a community of people who felt similarly. Now she has many people who fit in with the former standout.

"Find your tribe." - Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess

Jenny says that we all have a group of people that are our people, we just have to find them. It is important to find the people that value us for what and who we are without trying to mold us into some sort of idea.

I have to remember these things when I feel pressured to be like every other music therapist in the world.

I have to remember these things when others say things that I don't agree with - it's okay not to agree with everyone else.

I have to remember these things when I have to speak up for those who don't speak up.

I have to remember that standing out from the "norm" is something that someone has to do in order to challenge the status quo in order to encourage growth in a profession, in a theory, in a job.

Standing out in other places is lots easier when you have found your tribe and know where you fit in.

Thank you, music therapists, for accepting that we have different ideas, different ways of doing the job, and different opinions about how the job is to be done. Thank you for supporting those who stand out, and for accepting those who conform.