HOW DO YOU RESPOND WHEN THE WORLD KEEPS SHIFTING AND IT’S HARD TO KEEP FINDING YOUR BALANCE?
Use a mantra to help focus and guide you into private practice.
I use a mantra – Be OK with not knowing.
It helps me focus, center, and re-group. I like to remind myself that not knowing is part of the process and part of what I need in my life to grow.
It doesn’t always make the problem immediately better, but it does help me to gain a little perspective. AND more importantly, it helps me to sit with the problem. I have come to learn that sitting still with the problem is the hardest part of the challenge for me, but also the best way to find impetus for action.
You see, when it comes to my own life and choices, too often when I am faced with a problem, my immediate response is to be an ostrich. To stick my head underground, and pretend like nothing is happening and everything is okay.
The problem with this coping mechanism is that over time I have come to realize it results in my letting the world happen TO ME rather than me taking the reigns and letting my actions happen in this world.
The problem with this coping mechanism…
When I use to work for someone else, this coping mechanism worked because I allowed my manager and the system to dictate to me. Conveniently, it always gave me someone else to blame. However, ultimately I began to realize it left me feeling very disgruntled and discouraged. I felt like I had no power to even change.
If you know my story, you also know that it wasn’t until the system spit me out that I was able to find my own barrings and stand on my own two feet. Standing on my own, running my own private practice, defining MY values & mission has changed everything for me. I am now happier than ever – at work, with my clients, and most importantly with my family.
If you are like me, I encourage you to think about what makes you happy and consider if changing your work setting might ultimately allow you to also live your best life and best career.
Be OK with not knowing
As an occupational therapist, I wasn’t taught or even encouraged to think about my own practice. So let me be the one to start encouraging you to think about what other options might be out there. Think about what owning your own practice might look like. Think about how your life might change. I recommend journaling and scribing your thoughts down. For me, I like to divide the page in half and write down both my dreams & hesitations. Be free and face both. It is important to acknowledge every angle. Then join me for a zoom conversation to talk about how I got into private practice and opportunities that exist to support your own dreams.
