Seed Planter

June 18, 2016creelight3720 1 Comment

Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of running into a client I knew from an agency where I used to work. I forgot his name, but recognized him as soon as I drove up. There was a time when I was very good at remembering names and faces, but not so much with the names anymore. On occasion, faces can be a challenge too. As I was getting out of the car to take care of some business, I planned not to say anything unless he initiated it. This is what we are taught in mental health for the protection of privacy and respect of our clients. And I’ve often seen clients in the community over the years. One time, I made the mistake of initiating a greeting to a client that was the manager at a major retail chain. That was an awkward experience to say the least. I knew better, but it slipped my mind because I’m generally excited about seeing people that I know while out and about. Whatever the case, although he returned my greeting, he appeared so uneasy that I vowed not to make that mistake ever again. I would imagine that this is a challenge in very, small cities and we have plenty of small, rural cities/counties in Texas.

I did wonder if he recognized me. It has been 4 years since we’ve seen each other. What I remember is that he is a very intelligent man with a jovial and good-natured spirit. He struggled with depression, but I could see that he put in the effort to maintain a positive mindset. As I entered the building, he called my name and my heart and face smiled. However, I still couldn’t recall his name. It was awkward for a few seconds because the reaction most people have (at least where I live) to seeing someone that you haven’t seen in a while is to hug. Also, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more of a toucher and hugger. We almost motioned to hug, but settled into a handshake. I was in the process of entering the building when he called me from outside, so one person was holding the door open while another was exiting. We held them up for a moment with our greeting, but it was worth it. It was so good to see him because oddly enough, I thought about him recently and here he was in the flesh.

After I took care of business, we caught up for a few minutes. Not surprisingly, he’s doing well. He told me his name, without my asking, and I hoped not to forget it again. He said that he still tells people about me and how I was when I worked at the agency. He spoke highly of a counselor who encouraged him to move on to bigger and better things because he is ready. We exchanged closing words and went on our way.

After a long, exhausting week of traveling, that meeting made my week. It reminded me of the privilege it has been to work as intimately as I’ve had with people. Speaking to him in that moment reminded me of what I intended to do when I was a clinician, which was to plant seeds. In meeting people where they are, because not everyone self actualizes before your eyes or while on your caseload, I vowed to plant seeds of hope. I viewed myself as part of the process of change and wanted them to know that someone (as in me) sincerely cared about their well being.

I no longer work as a practitioner, but this is a reminder that I am still a seed planter. I want to plant seeds of hope and inspiration in everyone that crosses my path. This may sound overly ambitious and idealistic to some, but it’s true.

Also, I might not be the loudest in the room, but I do want my absence to be felt when I’m gone and I’ve heard on more than one occassion that I am missed.

Open: Daily Post

June 16, 2016creelight3720 1 Comment

I’m one to open myself up to new experiences and often operate outside of my comfort zone. The very act of writing a blog and publicly publishing these posts are testaments of my openness. I welcome all the good that comes with trying new things, but it does not come without fear and vulnerability. In my view, being open is an act of courage. Opening myself up has been a slow process over the years. Imagine a flower’s metamorphosis from a bulb to a beautiful and vibrant bloom. Openness puts you in position to grow. This is what I’ve seen in myself.

Living authentically and in accordance with my purpose are what drive me to be open to new things. I was conditioned early on to be afraid of people, my surroundings and the world. It is a struggle and I think it’s important for others to know that fear may be a constant presence. At this point/age in my life, I most often don’t succumb to fear, but admittedly, there are times that I do. Old habits and old ways of thinking (that no longer serve me) die hard.

For anyone struggling with this, what helps me is to focus on the gains rather than the risks. It doesn’t have to be a new adventure either. It could be a different way of thinking, a different way of being, and a different way of relating. It could be engaging with a different set of people, trying a new food, moving to a different city, going back to school, getting a new job, applying for a promotion, traveling to a foreign country or doing whatever is daring for you.. Whatever it is, the key is to decide to do something that gets you closer to where you want to be. Decisions you make will take you closer or further away from the life you want. It’s been the small, daily decisions that have brought me to where I am today and I still have plenty of room to grow.

To be open is liberating. To be open despite fear is courageous.

Understanding – Dailypost

June 12, 2016creelight3720 Leave a comment

I understand. I understand what you mean. How often have you harmlessly said those words when someone was explaining something in an attempt to acknowledge what was said and convey your understanding. I’ve said those words many times in my personal and professional relationships. Empathy does allow us to imagine what it must feel like and find some common thread so that we can come to an understanding of whatever is going in that experience. As a social worker, I have a lot of empathy. Although I have experienced and seen a lot, how can I profess to really understand what someone is going through when I have not walked in their shoes? Are those words being used too loosely? Is it about truly understanding or a need to feel/appear knowledgeable or something else?

In the past, I worked as a mental health professional for years and I was careful about not saying that “I understand” to clients because I did not entirely. I knew the etiology of certain conditions along with statistical and demographic information, but in terms of what it felt like to be in my office with that specific story, I did not know. More importantly, I avoided saying “I understand” because I didn’t want to belittle anyone’s experience.

My goal was to engage so that I could earn trust, which would make our work together less painful and more productive. The quickest way to losing that trust is to come off as fake by saying things that aren’t totally true. There were lots of circumstances that led people to my caseload and one common element was that they were involved in the criminal justice system. And my clients were very sensitive to fakeness.

Even if I could relate to things said like, “I don’t like taking medications” or “I’m having a hard time juggling family, work, and school”, I avoided saying that “I understand”. There are details that make our stories unique even though they sound similar, and from my experiences, people don’t like you to assume that you know their story. It’s a turn off. My favorite thing to say in my authentic way was, “I hear what you are saying “. It worked for me because it let them know that I was listening without making assumptions. In some cases, I would say, “I can relate”, which I think is different than saying “I understand“.

With a close friend, I might have said that I did understand the reasoning for not liking to take medications, but would I really understand her reason(s)? That’s the question I will ask myself the next time I think about saying “I understand”. This will be a challenge in listening, asking follow up questions, and not making assumptions based on my own experiences.

Understanding

Why Blog about Self-Care

June 12, 2016creelight3720 1 Comment

I started this blog because as a social worker, I wanted a platform to share nuggets that I have learned and am continuing to learn about self-care and managing my life. Writing is a form of self-care for me because it allows me to express, reflect and evaluate my thoughts. Not to mention, I enjoy it and have always dreamed of being a writer when I was younger. I loved reading books and losing myself in the stories. I thought about how amazing it would be to relate to people and evoke feelings from reading the words on a page.

Here, I’m bridging my love of helping people with my love of writing and the good news is that I don’t have to make anything up because this blog is about my thoughts and experiences. In my professional life, I’ve had many successes such as seeing clients and projects succeed, maintaining great relationships, and receiving promotions. I have also experienced some failures and have been burned out at different agencies. It was the experience of attending graduate school in 2009, while working full time and managing a household with 2 small children and a husband, that I realized that I wasn’t going to survive without implementing some serious self-care strategies. Even though it was my decision to put myself (and my family) through that grueling schedule, I did take a firm stance that I would take care of myself through the process.

In my social work internship contract, some of my commitment to self-care included scheduling a monthly massage (stress relief), attending church (spiritual renewal), exercising regularly (reduces anxiety, releases endorphins), practicing yoga (relaxation), and meditation (mindfulness). I even did counseling the last 6 months of graduate school because I was under so much stress at my job (eventually led to burn out) and I needed to talk about what I was going through. The counseling helped me tremendously. Oddly enough (for me), I even started jogging for the first time in my life in my second year and managed to go hiking at least 3 times a week. I lost 15 pounds that year. Most everything worked in helping manage stress except I had a hard time keeping up with the massages. Alas, by the time I completed graduate school, I was again burned out and it was not because I missed a few massage appointments. I went through a lot in those 2.5 years.

There’s so much to self-care and I’m still learning what it all means. It can even change as your needs change. I haven’t gotten a massage in years and I no longer jog. As I was taking care of my husband before, during and after his surgery (see my first blog post), I realized that self-care meant that I needed to ease up on myself for not being able to do my self-care “activities” at that moment. I also allowed others to take care of me because I needed it. Self-care is making all of my doctor appointments, exercising regularly, reading a magazine, breathing, drinking a cup of tea, learning to say “no”, getting a pedicure, slowing down, smelling the flowers, and attending to my spiritual and emotional health, which is a constant work in progress. I’m more conscious of my thoughts and have let go of the perfectionism (mostly…a lot). I’m now exploring areas of my life that are not in congruence with my values, beliefs, goals and DREAMS and I eventually plan to change that.

What I do know is that what works for me may not work for you. My hope is that you take the time to find out what does work, and make it a habit in your every day life.

Lessons about Self-Care

June 8, 2016creelight3720 2 Comments

May was a month! We had our family trip planned to Florida for my cousin’s wedding, the weekend of my birthday. The kids were excited, my husband was excited and I was simply excited about May. I even made a Facebook post early in the month declaring just that, “I’m excited about May”. Well, the roller coaster ride that was May is behind me, but not so fast. There were some lessons to learn.

My husband’s health started declining soon into the month, evidenced by 2 ER hospital visits, with one culminating into a brain surgery that occurred on, of all days, my birthday. We didn’t know what was happening at the time it was happening. Although this was serious, some of it was funny even while we went through it. Out of respect for my husband because he wouldn’t like me sharing his personal business, I won’t go into details. In addition to physical symptoms, he also had some cognitive problems that were similar to dementia (e.g., confusion/short-term memory loss).

I did my first year, social work, graduate school internship at a nursing home, so this was eerily familiar, except it was happening in my house, to my 50-year-old husband. It was an episode out of the Twilight Zone. Long story short, we did not go to Florida. My daughter cried her eyes out the night we told her we weren’t going because daddy was sick. My oldest was upset with my daughter for not understanding why we couldn’t go. Let’s just say that there was drama in the house that night. I spent the days prior to and after my birthday at the hospital, praying for his recovery. There was no birthday cake. He was in pain, confused, and desperate for relief. As a seasoned social worker, I was outwardly calm, but internally, anxious, confused and exhausted.

Throughout this ordeal, friends, coworkers and family kept reminding me to take care of myself. Initially, I thought yes, of course. Sure, I exercise most days of the week, eat well, devote time for prayer and read scriptures first thing in the morning anyway. After being told to “take care” of myself over and over again, it got to the point that I questioned where I would fit “self-care” in because my husband needed my support, my kids needed me to drop them off/pick them up from school, feed them, and provide reassurance that their dad would be ok. Listen, I had just committed to a weight loss program the week before, yet, I hadn’t exercised in a few days, which was not ideal.

I was facing an unfamiliar role and it seemed to require that I prioritize my family’s needs over my own for a period of time. Although I knew this before and showed my appreciation, I realized how much my husband has contributed to our household. The reality was that I would be my husband’s caretaker until we got through this thing. And we didn’t know how long that would be. I was scared about what that meant for me and our family. The second day home after the surgery, both of our moods were down and I was attempting to describe my feeling and his response was, “It’s hard being the caretaker”.

So what did I do for self-care? I cut myself some slack. I was flexible. I was at my husband’s side at the hospital because he needed me. While there, I read my weight loss materials. I bought groceries and trusted my son (not without calls & texts) to walk home from school and pop a frozen pizza in the oven. I accepted help by letting a parent pick up my daughter. After his release, I accepted meals and visits from my wonderful church family and coworkers. I asked for prayers from everybody. I let people encourage and empathize with me. I told people what was going on. I allowed myself to be vulnerable, accept help and be loved. This last piece is huge because I’m the strong one. I’m SUPER WOMAN…NOT! I used to think I was and tried to lead others to believe that, but I acknowledge, accept and sometimes embrace my limitations.

I learned that the foundation of my self-care toolkit is love. The act of loving on myself by being kind, patient and understanding allows me to love onto others, especially when they really need me. And this conclusion didn’t come about as perfectly as it sounds. It was scary, messy and bleak for a bit, but then again, that’s the roller coaster ride called life.