The End of the Year

I am officially finished with all of my full-time job responsibilities for the next 12 days, for the month, for the year, and for the decade! I have from now until January 2nd to do my regular Winter Break things - a bit of cleaning, some last-minute gift shopping, packing, traveling, and resting far away from the things that I "have" to do. It is not quite enough time to become completely bored with my own company, but it is a change from the day-to-day routine. Today is my first day of break, and I have one commitment and that is all! My schedule is pretty empty this time around, and that's a great sight to see in my planner.

This has been an interesting year on many fronts. My health has been the biggest concern of mine for most of the year, culminating in the surprise removal of my gallbladder and a related procedure immediately following that surgery. I have been feeling much better - less fatigued with more interest in things - since that troublesome organ was removed. I'm hoping that this change in my body will change many things in my mental health status as well as in my interest in things music therapy related. Time will tell.

I have made some strides in my music therapy interests as well. I now have two CMTE courses available for music therapists. I've started a student-focused webinar series, and I'm getting ready to launch another CMTE course. Some of my files on Teachers Pay Teachers have sold (this is a labor of love - I get very little money from these files, but I LOVE creating them!!), and people follow my social media accounts on several different platforms. I'm almost finished with my most recent book, and my subscription service is up and running! I feel like I managed to do lots on this particular part-time interest this year.

The year is almost over, and I am into planning for 2020 full time! I have lots of dreams and plans and wishes and hopes that I am starting to organize into more formal versions of all those processes and systems. I am thinking long-term and that always has short-term consequences.

For just today, I want to make some file folders for my exhibit in April, clean a bit of the floors, put away my laundry, pack for my trip, and replace a valve on a running toilet. I will try to rest a bit as well as work a bit on chores and fun stuff. I will talk to my father at least twice today - he likes to call as he goes to breakfast and then later to see what's happening - and possibly to my sister as well. I need to finish up some gift ideas and get my closet organization started. I don't think that I have any errands that I have to do outside of my home, but I have the luxury of just doing what I want to do when I want to do it - I have my repaired car back from the shop as well!! Hooray!

So, my music therapy planning for today includes a list of file folders to make for my exhibit hall, attending an online meeting for a music therapy organization, and then lots of non-MT tasks. I'll be using my project planner to track the file folder inventory and my regular planner for keeping track of all of the other stuff that I want to do.

I'm sinking into planner mode, so I might as well embrace it. What types of planning systems do you use to coordinate your music therapy lives??

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Repetition

Image
One of the things that I find to be helpful with my client population (children, adolescents, and young adults with dual diagnoses) is repetition of phrases, lyrics, and music. As a result of 30+ years of working with this population in various iterations, I have found that my clients respond the most to songs with three repeated phrases to prime their responses with a different phrase to communicate the important part of the experience. DISCLAIMER: This is not a definite way to write music for clinical interactions. This is what seems to work well with my particular group of human beings. Don't go to your supervisors and tell them that I told you that this is the ONLY way to write music - It is NOT! You have to find what works for your clients and for their clinical goals. Since my clients respond well to this type of song, I tend to write songs in this format more than any other. What I have found is that my clients remember these songs more than the ones that I do in different f...
Read more

Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

Image
It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...
Read more