music, therapy, and me

I have been a professional music therapist, board certified, for 33 years now, so I feel like I have earned the title "Vintage Music Therapist." Having a bit of perspective that comes with being something and somewhere in a profession leads me to spend time thinking about all things music, therapy, and me. I spend lots of time thinking about music therapists and clinical interactions with the clients who come before us all. I am also part of many music therapy social media groups, threads, and what have you, so I see all sorts of things that happen in the clinical world outside of my own experience. One of the biggest difficulties with our profession at this time is one that has challenged us forever. It is the mismatch between where music therapists want to exist and where jobs are available. For many years, I have told interns that there are jobs available in this field, but those jobs are not always exactly where the interns want to be located. Professionals either have to...

It is raining outside and is supposed to rain most of today. After today, we will be heading back into a heat warning time for four days which means sticking around my home since I react strongly to the humidity. So, I have some time to do something by myself and in the relative quiet of my home. I currently have five unfinished journals sitting in various places around my craft/office space. I have some ideas of how to finish them, but I also see the piles of things that are around my home and feel the "you SHOULD [goblin] be cleaning" guilt pulling me away from those projects. I am getting better with actually moving things, but there is much to be done...still. It has been a month since I retired from my full-time job as a music therapist working in a psychiatric residential treatment facility and day school. I still have a month left on my self-imposed work break, and I am starting to panic about not having a steady job. I am looking at job announcements and am finding lo...

It is Monday again, and I am sitting here, looking around my messy office space, and wondering what I will write about today. I didn't make much this weekend, but I did continue working on current projects. I have stitched in the signatures to the winter and turtle books (somewhat crookedly, to be sure - have to disguise/camouflage that in some way) and am starting to put in the signatures to the Christmas book. It is time to decorate books now, so I am going to look around for some turtley things. I already have plenty of winter stuff and Christmas stuff is always easily found. I did make a shelf. I am a fan of all things Disney, and one of the ways that has manifested is purchasing Doorables. If you don't know what I'm talking about - just look at the photo here. They are small characters in a particular style, and I love them! I had them in a small wooden house that I have had in my home for many years, but it was difficult to see them as they were all crammed together. ...

Oh dear. It is starting to blur - the day, the week, the time that I have to spend doing things. It is horribly hot here (for me, at least), so I have no desire to go outside for anything - no shopping no movie, nothing outside my home. The biggest problem?? I don't want to do anything inside my house, either, but I am doing that inside stuff very slowly right now. I made my decision about health insurance, and I used some of my savings to cover the cost right now. I have to go six weeks between paychecks right now, so I am budgeting very strictly at the moment. I have a month to do before I get my first pension payment, and I am still not sure what that payment is going to be. Today is my first official day without a teaching contract. I am finished with all things that were part of my old job, and the space, the clients, the position is someone else's. Strange thoughts and feelings right now, but something anticipated and invigorating as well. One of the things that I have ma...