My job as an Occupational Therapist at a Nursing Home has taught me to be persistent. If I am scheduled for 75 minutes with a patient, my boss doesn’t want to hear that I only got 60 minutes. Sometimes, I want to listen to my heart when someone starts complaining that they didn’t sleep or are in pain or that they have company. Quite often though, I have to listen to my head.
Getting out of bed may sound like the worst possible torture to someone who doesn’t feel well, but in reality, it is often exactly what they need. So, I often need to go back to see the same person 3x during the day in order to get my 75 minutes. I have to bother them despite the fact that they have tried to refuse me, I have to ask them again to get out of bed, to sit on the edge of the bed or to lift some light weights while in bed. Some days, I walk in someone’s room and before I even introduce myself they groan or roll their eyes. They know I am a therapist before I say a word and they know I am going to be pushy.
This persistence is not part of my personality and I don’t like to be pushy but I think it is beginning to seep in and believe it or not; I think this is a good thing. I have been doing this work for many years and I have become a good judge of when to push hard, when to push soft and when to leave someone alone. Now I need to figure out how to apply this to myself! Why is helping ourselves so much tougher than helping others?
Over the last few weeks, I have sent emails to 3 different non-profits offering to run a health coaching related group free for their members. I got an immediate response from the front desk person at one place letting me know the appropriate person would contact me. That was over 10 days ago. I have been emailing back and forth with a contact from the second group but we can’t seem to meet to set this up. The third company I received no response whatsoever.
It would be easy to be frustrated with the people I reached out to but honestly, I am ticked off at myself. I need to flex my assertive muscle and pick up the darn telephone. I need to march myself into the non-profit and ask to speak to the responsible person. Time to get off of my comfy couch and out of my comfort zone. My proposal to these agencies is not only to benefit them but to help me gain some valuable Health Coaching experience. I need to take the next step to get over this obstacle.
I know the service I am offering is important and valuable. I worked for 20 years in the non-profit world and getting a volunteer in place often pays off BIG TIME! I am confident I can do this and be successful. But I need to get some coaching under my belt, I need to get out there to meet people who will benefit from what I have to offer. I can’t do this huddled in my home.
This is the time of year where I like to review my goals from the previous year to see which were met, which were never addressed and which will carry over to the new year. I love the process of writing goals and am learning to hold myself accountable for reaching them. Well in 2018, I had a goal to Health Coach at least 1 person for the experience and as a potential income stream. I didn’t reach this goal and I do not intend to come up short 2 years in a row!
After I finished the draft of this post, I completed my description of the class I will run, wrote my biography for the training calander and visited the person who creates the calander. I will officially offer this trainig this summer! Getting persistent with myself really gets the ball rolling in the right direction. Choosing happiness in the blue kayak!
Persistently yours!
Lake Girl
