I can’t believe that I will be at the halfwa
y point of my internship next week.Time has flown by
and I’m so thankful for all of the learning experiences so far. I’m learning that an internship is not only to help me grow as a music therapist; with guidance from my supervisors, this internship is helping me grow as a person as well.
Last week I wrote about how it’s been really hard to be myself in a clinical setting and I would like to expand on this topic. Well earlier this week, I had a tough conversation about how I haven’t been myself. Being yourself is extremely important in providing a safe and comfortable environment for clients and in the end, helps you to be comfortable as well and helps you to stay in the moment. Like I mentioned last week, this is difficult for me. I also have trouble being myself in my personal life, which then translates over to my therapist life. After a lot of thought and discussion this week, I realized that I need to just get out of my head. Being myself shouldn’t be this difficult and it doesn’t have to be if I just stop thinking about every little possible thing.
After letting go and being myself for the last two days, I have found that my clients respond SO much better. My clients were more engaged as well as more successful. This makes sense, of course, because I’m being more genuine. As a therapist, it’s important to be genuine. Music therapy doesn’t always have to be extremely clinical. There can be laughter as well as fun as a client works towards their goals. That’s what I’ve been missing these past few weeks because I’ve been letting my thoughts get in the way. As I learn to be more comfortable and completely love myself the way that I am, it will not only significantly help me in the clinical setting, but also in my personal life as well.
So if I have just one message for anyone reading this, it would be just love yourself. Get out of your brain and stop overthinking. It’s hard to do and I struggle with it every day, but as I’m slowly learning, it is totally worth it.
Thanks for reading my thoughts!
Sammy Springer
