Skip to main content

The only way is up - via down time

It was time.  Time for time out.  One of the most important lessons I've learned as a therapist, concerns my diary.  Knowing when my next break will be means I can offer the best of myself to those I seek to support.  My breaks are planned well ahead of time, and this is reflected in my diary.  I actually cross out those days I am not working, and have agreed the length and regularity of holidays with my supervisor who regularly asks me where I am in my working cycle.  It's important.  Working in the charities sector for much of my early career was good preparation:  holidays could not be carried over, and we were encouraged to make good use of our allowance, booking it in advance to guard against the dangers of burnout.  Working for myself, the same applies. 


Time spent switching off is not a luxury.  It is vital.  It is factored into every week, and not confined to the weekend.  I need to switch gears more regularly that that - mentally, and physically.  Longer breaks allow me to let go of my usual  routine, and I try to combine this with a change of environment.  This is one of the reasons why, for the time being at least, I don't choose to work from home.  I like to travel to and from work, and the movement between different geographical locations throughout my week is actually an asset rather than an inconvenience. 


That said, time spent further afield, exploring somewhere new and unfamiliar has a medicinal quality too.  Opening my eyes in a fresh landscape allows me to adjust my view, refine my focus, gaining clarity and the possibility of a new perspective.  So called 'down time' can be some of my most productive and creative time.  Diaries are placed to one side, schedules may be interrupted or even suspended.  Deadlines remain on the horizon - where they remain, neither forgotten nor foreground.  They have been accounted for, and just for now, I need be only here.  My senses are awakened and deepened, due to the possibility of increased engagement and willingness.  Expectations and assumptions, such good friends with routine and normality, are given a break, creating a spaciousness into which the new and unexplored can emerge.  There is a whole new world, waiting to be explored, if only we give ourselves the time to do so. 






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Table. Apple. Penny.

Whilst there were several places I might have been that morning, I wouldn't have been anywhere else.  The practitioner from the Memory Service arrived promptly.  I liked her instantly.    Mum was nervous.  I think I was a little, too.  It's been a difficult year.   "It's Friday, it's the fourteenth of December and I'm at home..."   No problems there.  CAMCOG, or the Cambridge Cognitive Examination is a thorough assessment tool used to assess the extent of extent of dementia, and to assess the level of cognitive impairment.  The standardised  measure assesses orientation, language, memory, praxis, attention, abstract thinking, perception and calculation.    "Table.  Apple.  Penny."   Three everyday items that were introduced at one point, and then referred to again later on.  Again, Mum was able to recall each.      I am reminded that the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Glass half full? Glass half empty? Or perhaps the glass is broken

I am, constitutionally, a glass half empty gal.  I will always first acknowledge what I don't have, what I have lost, and what it is that I am seeking.  I tend to overlook my strengths, concentrating only on those bits of me that are underdeveloped or weak.  I refer to myself as a realist, but in doing so compliment myself and insult those who genuinely are simply realistic.  My modus operandi is to identify what's not working and acknowledge this before seeing more clearly what functions perfectly well.  This has its place: I edit others' written work pretty well.  My fastidious attention to detail serves me, and the author.  Accuracy counts, for me and I have an excellent memory.  I can remember a great many of my sessions with clients verbatim.  Even this asset is something I can, and do, diminish the true value of, by concentrating on 'I should have said...' or 'why didn't....  occur to me during the session?' Earlier this we...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pausing in the sunshine

And so, chemo is over.  My best friend's diary has been chocker...  Line cleans, blood tests, scans and 18 weekly doses of the gruelling treatment itself.  Summer seems at last to have arrived and with it, we hope, some time, peace and space. She is, we acknowledged over a rather yummy luncheon served to us beneath the beautiful canopy of creepers and climbers at Petersham Nurseries, an inspiration. A small group of us gathered to celebrate her forthcoming marriage.  The sun's rays joined the warmth we all have for this very special woman.  Warmth and, in my case at least, pride. It is the greatest privilege to call this woman my best friend.  She continues to epitomise my understanding of grace.  Our bodies are fragile things.  Our minds are frailer still.  In her composure and wisdom, she possesses an outlook I can only aspire to adopt.  From you, dear Charlotte, I learn and I learn and I learn.   The ...
Post a Comment
Read more