music, therapy, and me

I am one exhausted introvert this morning. I spent four hours last night in the company of crafters and scrapbookers. It is always a good time that leads me to doing all sorts of creative things, but it is also tiring. I engaged in small talk conversation with a couple of other people last evening. The craft store owner seems to be an extravert, so she stops by everyone's table to comment on what we were doing. She complimented my coloring last evening. I find that particular type of interaction to be a bit fake, but it tickled my funny bone. I only lasted four hours, but I am heading back in about an hour to do some more stuff. I have the innards of several books ready to be put into currently nonexistent covers. I will take some floss and my bookbinding kit and the pieces that I need to make books for the signatures I put together. I looked for some inspiration for themes for the signatures that I put together, but I didn't find any. I will search a bit more here at home. I h...

Please forgive me as I swerve from a helpful music therapy website post into a more personal website post. I am an introvert who was made to feel ashamed for my personality traits by teachers, youth group leaders, and professors. In a world that values extroversion, I am a quiet person who is not very prone to those qualities. It is difficult for me to attend gatherings of people, much less be gregarious and make people pay attention to me. It has taken years for me to be comfortable with who I am and what I need as a human being from relationships with others. It has been good to see that others are out there, feeling the same things I feel, and are writing about their experiences. One website that I particularly enjoy is Introvert, Dear .  The posts on this website are often relevant to me, but some are not. As an introvert (as far as you can get on each and every scale that I've taken) raised by an introvert and an extrovert, I felt understood most of the time by my parents. My ...

I spent a long weekend laminating things and that's about it. I don't think I left my apartment other than taking trash out since Thursday evening. I took a couple of naps, made some food, wrote a bit, and spent time reading books and working on my Portuguese. It was a quiet weekend.  I think this is the best part of being grown up and being an introvert at the same time. I enjoy time on my own (most of the time) and I can keep myself occupied with the stuff that I have available to me (again, most of the time). I did spend a bit more money this weekend than I usually do - darn that Amazon, but it was a good weekend. I often find that three-day weekends are more relaxing and productive for me than a week and a half off. It is strange, but by Sunday, I am often ready to head back to work. I get bored being at home and want to head out and be around people. When I have longer breaks, I get over that boredom and find things to do at home. I get into a napping groove and just don...

One of the most challenging things that I have in my life has nothing to do with being a music therapist, but has LOTS of influence on my life as a music therapist, and that is my label as an introvert.  NOTE: If you've never missed out on opportunities because "You're just so quiet, we didn't even think about you," or "You just don't know how to have fun," or "You are just so serious," then you are probably not an introvert and won't really get what I'm trying to say, so you may just want to move to another blog post. I am an introvert. I am about as introverted as you can get on every single type of scale that measures human interaction and how we engage in society. I have always been this way, and it is just now that we introverts are starting to assert our own strengths and power. This is a wonderful time for me (and probably for most introverts, but we probably will NOT shout it from many mountaintops - we are, after al...

Today is exhaustion day. I have a low voice from all the allergy stuff happening, my throat is scratchy, and I just can't seem to wake up completely, so I went over to Goodreads to see if there was a good quotation about being exhausted that resonated with me... “I let it go. It's like swimming against the current. It exhausts you. After a while, whoever you are, you just have to let go, and the river brings you home.” ― Joanne Harris, Five Quarters of the Orange Here's what called to me about this quotation - I think it is a good call and reminder for taking the time for self-care.  I talk about self-care lots and LOTS on this blog, mainly because I need to do so. I don't always do the best things for me when it comes to self-care, and I need the reminders. Writing about it helps me to remember that it is important to take time to go to the doctor or schedule some time to sleep into my busy-ness. This week has been busy. I've ho...

You may have noticed that I missed a day blogging. (In all actuality, you probably didn't notice, but I like to think that someone out there reads this blog daily!! Hi, Janice!) Yesterday was spent at work after staying at work because we had a significant icing of all roads, and I have bad tires right now that don't really grip the road the way they should. So, I spent the night at work, sleeping on the music therapy room floor in my sleeping bags and on my carpet squares. It was a pretty comfortable experience, and I am glad that I stayed since the reports of what was going on outside were pretty scary (lots of people's cars sliding into ditches, others shooting off the shoulders, and still others ramming into those others). I've adopted a "stay put" type of attitude when it comes to snow and ice. Anyway... This has been the quotation that I have glanced at over the past couple of weeks. I've not paid much attention to this sentiment over said ...

For the next week, my blogging schedule will be all cattywampus (Yes, spell-check, I really do mean what I say - cattywampus - not campus!). If you are looking forward to a new therapeutic music experience (TME) tomorrow, you will be disappointed as there will be no new TME for at least a week. Instead, there will be some thoughts and musings from my experiences at the AMTA conference. I am ready, I think, for all of the happenings that will happen at the conference. It is amazing how much time, effort, and energy goes into this time every year. The AMTA National Office staff is already at the hotel, trying to get things coordinated and organized for us. The hotel is probably not only coordinating our arrival but is probably also working with another conference going on. (That seems to happen quite frequently around our conferences.) Anyway, rest assured that the conference will go off well due in large part to the dedication of the AMTA National Office staff members who work REALLY ...

Wow. Yesterday's post got the most views for a post forever! Over a thousand people looked at my page yesterday, and I am humbled! It is quite amazing that something I wrote is being read by people from all around the world. Thank you for being here and for reading what I write. I'm sure that today's post will not be quite as interesting to many people, but it is time for some reflection and self-care now, so here goes. I need some quiet time, and today is the day that I will get that time. I love my job. I love music therapy, and I love that I get to make music for and with my clients and get paid for it, BUT I often need to find that quiet to get myself back into therapy mode. Today will be a quiet day. For me, a quiet day means limited interaction with others. It means watching whatever I want on Netflix, listening to anything I want to listen to (translation - no Happy or Let It Go ), and choosing my personal interactions very carefully. I probably won't leav...

So, here's the deal. There has been lots of talk on the blogosphere about self-care for music therapists lately. It's now my turn! I am a HUGE advocate for self-care for the caregiver. This is not an easy thing to do, but it is important for us all to be able to take care of ourselves. I am getting ready to do just that. One of the things that I have realized is that self-care looks different for each of us. For one therapist, a cruise surrounded by people may be the perfect way to unwind. For another, a camping trip in the mountains may fit the bill. For still another, sleeping in and being leisurely may need to be what happens. The trick is to find what works best for you, and then do that! I will be taking a mini-break next week. All winter, I work on inclement weather days, driving through the snow and ice in order to provide care for my students. When the winter is through, I get to have days off when I choose to take the time. I've decided that next week is the ...

It is time for music therapy conferences. I have seen many, MANY posts about what my music therapy friends are doing all around the country, and I am looking forward to posting some of my own stuff from this weekend. It is my turn to head out into the world of music therapists and learning, networking, and experiencing those things that center around a music therapy event. There are rumors about swag - don't know what is swagish, but I know I like rumors like that! My sister laughs at me when I talk about getting a pen and a bag at conferences. She's a second grade teacher and gets things like jumpdrives, iPod minis, and fancy t-shirts in her swag bags. She just doesn't understand the excitement that a pen gives me when I go to a music therapy conference. That's one of the difficulties of being in a small profession - limited advertisement opportunities.  So, I'll go see some presentations on Social and Communication Pragmatics Theory and Music Therapy Supervi...

I am a member of a Facebook group for music therapists. This group is a good thing and a bad thing. Currently, there is a MAJOR discussion going on about censorship, thread jacking, attacks, purpose, and the way we are with each other. I've noticed that whenever there is a post that sparks controversy, there are three or four people who take it that direction. They seem to love arguing and will criticize every little thing that someone says. If a person asks for assistance in using a resource, song, or material with a client, we all of a sudden start conversing about conformity. "Why is the therapist forcing this client to participate in an experience that requires conformity with others." No actual consideration of the client, the client's goals, or anything about the client in the discussion. That was not the original intent of the postee. she just wanted an idea about how to use something with a client. The thirty-plus comments about whether we should make client...

Lately, I have been very much involved in the world of introverts. I have a friend who is a life coach specifically for introverts, several new communities of like-minded people, and an increased awareness of what it means to be introverted. It has been an interesting thing to contemplate. I am an introvert. Every scale that I have completed has shown that I am as far on the introversion side of the scale as you can actually get. It is a bit of a relief to know that I am not alone out there in the world! As I have been immersing myself in the world of introversion (it's a solitary journey, as we all prefer it!), I have found that many of the things that bother me and many of the things about me that bother other people are traits of the introverted tribe. It is completely normal for me to not want to go to social events, to get there and watch rather than jumping into social interaction with both feet, and to leave before the party really gets going. There are other people out ...

This is a week of vacating all of my responsibilities. I enjoy weeks like this - times away from most of the responsibilities that I usually have during any and all weeks. This vacation started like most of my others - with a long car trip. I drove through the Painted Desert and five states on my way to my final destination, Southern California and my family. I've become very good at taking pictures out my car window while streaking down the Interstate. Here are some of the results... Vacations are something that I didn't really think about before I started to work full-time. As I have become an experienced therapist, I am more and more appreciative of the opportunity to leave everything behind in an effort to relax and refresh. It is important to leave things behind every once in a while. I do not do this easily. I spend much of my vacation time corresponding with music therapists from all over the world - I find it difficult to completely disconnect. I always find ...