This post is about how being hospice music therapist has affected my personal life by changing what I do for fun. As you can guess, my work can get pretty emotionally intense, although it is not as "doom and gloom" as some think. All this can have a pretty big impact on what I do with the rest of my week. After thinking about it, I've come to realize that I tend to do one of two things when it comes to my hobbies the rest of the week. I tend to either do something that uses my brain a lot, but not thinking about hospice, or I do something that my brain can go on autopilot for.
An example of the "autopilot" activities is cycling. I have a friend who is really big into bicycles and got me into it. I never really cared either way about cycling before, but he is so into it that I got sucked in. It's funny how when you find someone really fired up about something, it gets contagious. Basically, when I get out riding, I don't really think about anything. I get a nice workout and feel great when I get back, both physically and mentally. The things that make my brain work a lot and focus on what I'm doing instead of hospice are things like songwriting or reading. I try to read at least a half hour a day, if not more. I do songwriting whenever I have an inspiration. The songs usually start in my car, where I write the lyrics and then get home and try to put the lyrics and melody I created to chords and get the rest of it figured out.
I was thinking about my hobbies and how they help me and how I could make this post applicable to anyone. I think it all boils down to taking care of yourself and not obsessing about one thing. It's almost never a good thing to do that. I think part of taking care of yourself is taking your mind off things. By thinking about one thing all the time, you are putting yourself at risk of burnout. When people get burned out, they don't care about their work and they usually start to do poorly in the work place. In hospice, caring and doing a good job are paramount to our patients getting the care and quality of life they deserve. It is the epitome of a lose-lose situation when you're burned out - you don't want to be there and the people you are with suffer for it. I think this is true for anyone, whether you are a music therapist, teacher, nurse, electrician, etc.
I encourage you to take a few minutes and think about your hobbies. Do they contrast your work? Do they exist at all? How do they affect your patients? How do they affect you? If you realize you don't really have any hobbies that take your mind off work, make a plan and start one. Even something as simple as knitting or getting an exercise program can drastically help.
What are your hobbies?
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