Something Sunday: Still Not Sure How I Want to Use This Day...

I am waffling these days about blogging. Not about whether I blog or not, but more about what is important to write about. I am always interested in my readers. Who are you? What sort of things are challenging to you, as humans, as music therapists, (as my sister,) and as professionals?

I just reupped my membership in the American Music Therapy Association. This is an essential part of my job and my professional life. It always has been and always will be. I cannot imagine being a music therapist without being a member of my national organization. I know that there are problems with this group, but there are problems with every single institution that is out there in the world of humanity. There are always things that we can do to become better for each other. I find that it is easier to get things changed from within than from without, so I am member.

I am also a member of AMTA because I am an internship director and supervising music therapist. I cannot train interns without being a member, so I cough up the membership fee every year. I like being an internship director, so I have been a professional member for my entire career, even when I could have had graduate student membership costs - If I had been a grad student member back when I was a grad student, I would not have been able to be an internship director. The rules changed after they no longer applied to me. (I like to think that my situation may have had something to do with the rule change...)\

My final reason for being a member of AMTA, through the good and the not-so-good times, is that my mother was always a member of her professional organization, even when she was not working outside our home. She was always a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association. There was no question about not being a member of AOTA, and that expectation sunk in with me. My mother is no longer a member of AOTA because she is fully retired and loving every second of that fact!

I don't take advantage of my membership the way that I could... that's an entirely different post, though.

Okay, back to the initial topic for this morning - what kind of things could I do on Sundays??

I am seriously at a loss. I have tried all sorts of things over the years. I have analyzed songs, changed up songs by manipulating musical elements, attempted to read music therapy texts (crashed and burnt there!), and just defaulted to "nothing to do with music therapy - all about me" posts. I do, though, like to have different series of things to write about on certain days.

I write about internship supervising on Mondays. My Tuesday series needs a bit of shaking up because it has been more about avoiding writing TMEs than sharing TMEs with others. My Wednesday posts are completely open for anything. Thursdays are for thinking a bit more deeply about specific topics. Fridays are all about the systems that I use to keep myself somewhat organized. Saturdays are another free-for-all when it comes to topics. What topic will organize my Sunday posts??

Insert sound of frustration here...

There is so much that I have written about all sorts of topics since I started this blog. When I go back and read some of my posts, I am amazed at what I was thinking about at that time, in that situation. Perhaps my Sundays are the day that I revisit some of those older posts and then reflect on them from the place I am at this point right now. That might be interesting. I could use a random number generator for my 3,166 posts and use that to select something to write about each week. That could be exciting...

Let's try that now...

The number is 358 - now I have to figure out where #358 is located... Hunh, that may be a detriment to this system. That's the part that will take some work.

So, it is not possible for today, but I might be able to get this type of thing going.

I have all of my posts archived, so I have a list of when all of my posts happened. Post #358 happened in 2012. It was in December and was the seventh post from the end of December that year... let's see what the post was...and here it is! Visioning a Different Future. What did past me see for current me?

I will work on the ways that I can pursue this type of thing for my future Sunday posts. It might be interesting - it may reveal things that I have struggled with for a very long time. It may be something that leads me into action steps or doing things differently. After all, if past me was concerned way back in 2012 about not having a plan for the future, perhaps current me can see that continued concern and realize that futures are not necessarily planned. Or, maybe current me will decide that there is no longer a need to worry about that. Things will happen...

Let's transform Sundays together.

Goodbye, 2012 MJ. Things are fine here in your future, but there still isn't a plan...

...and that's okay.