Continuously Finding My "Why"

One of the things that you hear quite often is "find your why."

For me, this has always been a bit strange as my "why" has been clear to me since I was fourteen. I have to be a music therapist. It fits me like nothing else. When I was contemplating what I wanted to do in graduate school, I was encouraged to explore options outside of music therapy. I spent lots of time thinking about what I wanted to do next, but I kept coming back to doing music therapy. I realized that I did not want to be an occupational therapist, but I wanted to do music therapy with occupational therapists. I didn't want to be a special educator, but I wanted to do music therapy in a special education setting. At the heart of all of my professional goals is that I want to be a music therapist.

My "why" is that music is something that is accessible to all. It is something that has power and when guided, all people can use music to assist them in their unique goals and quests.

As I have traversed this profession over the past three decades (and some), my initial "why" has changed a bit. I am now in a place where I want to support others in this profession. I am not all that interested in teaching students, but I am really interested in working with professionals and supporting their presence in this profession. I also want to continue to exercise my creativity when it comes to making things to use with clients in music therapy sessions. So many things to think about and contemplate (see yesterday's post for some of my brainstorming).

The thing that I have to remember is that I don't have to figure everything out right now. My financial advisor says that I can wait to work for a year or two, but I do not feel comfortable with that timeline. I figure I will become very bored with my own company in a couple of months before I end up looking for something to take me away from myself. The local movie theater is hiring, and I could do that job.

In a couple of days, I am going to sit down and write a professional mission statement. This is an exercise that I do every so often. I will also write a personal mission statement as well. These help me figure out what I want with my lives - both personal and professional. I tend to do these statements in lieu of vision boards, but they have the same function.

It is time to redefine my "why."