music, therapy, and me

Yesterday was another rough day for my session - not for the ones that my intern ran, but MINE! I am starting to feel that this is a personal vendetta from my clients, but I know that is ridiculous. Today, I am heading into a full-moon (don't doubt, scoffers), upcoming winter storm, short-staffed, mess of a job to lead three groups. I am hoping that they will be at least a bit receptive to music therapy today. We have two other groups to go through - my intern will lead one completely and will do as much of the second as possible! In another setting event, I got home to a home without power - on webinar night. I was able to start a communication chain but had to cancel because I was unsure if the power would be on at webinar time. Sigh. At one point during my ONLY group session yesterday, there were two kids in crisis, one kid taking a break, and all sorts of situations happening. We had a new staff member in the session - don't even know the person's name - who did not app...

Everywhere I look these days there are angry people. There doesn't seem to be many people who aren't angry about something or another, and most of our anger seems to be part of the entire COVID-19 situation that we are part of at the moment. Some are angry because they are not allowed to do what they feel they should be allowed to do. Others are angry because they want to limit what others do in a protection mode. Others seem to be yelling JUST BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE IS YELLING, SO HERE IS MY CAUSE THAT I WANT PEOPLE TO HEAR ABOUT! I am not ashamed to admit that I am struggling with all of the negativity that is happening around me, and I am isolating myself from as much of it as possible. As a music therapist, I am linked to music therapists all over the world who are struggling to navigate this pandemic. We are prone to wanting to help (hence the term "therapist"), and this virus has changed everything that we were used to doing in ways that are difficult to process....

I feel perky on this Monday morning. Over the past week, I've spent more time at home than anyplace else, thanks to a bout of possible kidney stones and definitely colitis. I finally have the diagnosis confirmed and appropriate treatment happening, so I feel pretty good right now. My body hasn't quite wakened, so there is no pain happening and my temperature isn't up too high. It's nice. I am going to work. This doesn't seem like much of an announcement, but I think that it will be a good thing to get out and get back into my real life routine again. This, however, is where the danger lies. I tend to head back too much, too fast. One of the things that happens when I start on this cycle is that I get this burst of energy and then I go full enthusiasm into whatever is in front of me. I start to get tired, but I am halfway through my something, and I just don't want to stop. So, I press on. Then, I exhaust myself, and I crash.  I don't want to cr...