Thursday Check-In

So, how is your week going?

Mine has included a near accident, hysterics for 24 miles, wishing that I could take a day off but knowing that I really can't justify it, wanting to get breakfast but the line being too long, long conversations with my family (which I love, but take time), interrupted sleep, beautiful weather patterns with just enough rain and sunshine to make me happy, one compliment, and some crabby students.

I am so tired of everything, and I have been very isolated in my little therapy space. Everyone around me is sick, so I am trying my best to stay healthy since I've already lost one week to a strange virus. I don't want to use any more time this month.

Every time this happens (and it is happening more often as I go through changes in my hormone levels and as I age), I have to figure out ways to break through the funk and keep going. For me, mindfulness practices help, and they mostly happen during my commute to work. Yesterday, for example, when the first four things on my list above happened rapidly, I cried, did a bit of hyperventilating, and then used my breathing techniques and mindfulness practices to calm myself down. By the time I got to work, I was still on edge, but I was calm-ish. 

The day went the way all of my clinical days go these days - some people were happy to try what I had to offer and others were not. There were no major incidents in music therapy, but there weren't any strong happy moments either. This was just a hum-drum sort of week. I have four groups today and one group tomorrow before the end of my clinical work for this week. Then, I get two days away!!

Next week is our culture of the month week - that is an easy strategizing week, but I am ready to add some new stuff to our routine. I am bored with what we have done until now, so I am tweaking some stuff to make things a bit more interactive. Some of my Friday time will be spent making my session strategies for the upcoming weeks. I have already planned out some of what we will be talking about. I am making thematic patterns for the weeks that happen each month. Week one is culture of the month, week two is some sort of instrument or ensemble focus, week three is a music education concept, week four is musician of the month and leisure skill development, and the occasional week five is technology focus. October has a week five, so we will be learning about older music tech. My structure is working well for me - I have the basic ideas and then adapt as needed for the clients who arrive in my session space.

It is time to go. My sister has commanded that I get myself breakfast this morning, so off I go!

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