Skip to main content

After Maternity Leave: Getting back in Gear.

#Hermine

After the long pregnancy months and the 8 weeks (turned to 13 due to a timely hurricane), getting back on my feet was something I was looking forwards to. Finding the right daycare and resuming my career right where I left off...

Except that, as soon as I did find daycare and returned to work, it was lackluster. Trading those long & slow morning routines for quick out-the-door and on the road ones. Taking only the memory of her soft skin and baby scent to get me through the long commute (50 miles each way) and even longer work day. ---- some will scoff at that statement, saying i should be more than ready to return to work after 13 weeks. And in many ways i was tired of the home monotony. I knew going into this that the stay at home mom gig was not for me. But jumping into an 8-4:30 (with commute more like 6:30-5:30) while my infant is raised by (essentially) strangers, is no walk in the park.

I bare my soul to set the stage for why it worked out to have dissolved my groups and client relationships (sort-of) when I left on maternity leave. After 13 weeks away from work some things had changed and many had stayed just as I left them. For instance, the paperwork I didn’t get to because contractions came a week sooner than expected --- now months late, it waited for me.

Something that came naturally before, infusing my work life with enthusiasm and empathy once again, is taking some doing. I’m setting up several groups from scratch with themes that are both needed and of great interest to me -- Mindfulness and creativity. Two very unlikely partners in a forensic setting, where most art supplies are contraband and the overall environment is bleak at best. Under such a restrictive environment, and with limited supplies, as well as time (45 minutes or less) -- we'll be tapping into an innate ability to create. Striving to sublimate some of the long-held emotional baggage my clients have been lugging around.

OK so this isn't my first mindfulness under bleak conditions rodeo. I've been teasing out ways to bring creativity and mindfulness to various populations at the hospital I work-in for many years now. My current group will help me fine-tune these skills further. If I manage to find some time for my own self-nurturing creative practices I’ll be set.

Here's to getting back in gear! #resilience

Currently reading: Mindfulness and the Arts Therapies a book by Ellen Mullin and Janet Surrey, edited by Laury Rappaport. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

March Days of #creativedeed365

and it continues! #creativedeed365 continued through the struggles of march with lots of support from the Facebook group, family, friends, and even spouse. After the first 2 months of #creativedeed365  with Gretchen Miller , March began with a plan. Using the stained cards from Murphy in the Art Space  which were already cut into 3"x 3" squares I set out to conquer Marchs' 31 days. One day  card at a time. Much like the prior months I prepared the back of the cards with the # of the card and date plus a blip about the creativedeeds. Each day I found a few minutes to create the entry. Saving the cards for distribution once I was in public spaces such as the local university, coffee shops, or restaurants. This month I saw a couple pop-up on Instagram from people who found them and then found me through the #creativedeed365 tag. I was surprised by how exited I was at realizing where these cards had made-it to. Glad they were in good hands. Through the making of ...
1 comment
Read more

Leftover Tie Dye? Work with it!

Summer seems to be the time for tie dye and outdoor activities -- in Florida that also means spontaneous monsoon-like thunderstorms and zillions (yes, zillions) of mosquitoes. So, if you’re stuck indoors with weeks old (or older) tie dye, this post is for you! As seen in previous posts I love re-purposing and up-cycling, however believe me when I say that I do not go looking for these opportunities. I just go with it when the muse calls and sometimes it works out and others it does not. This was one of those creative opportunities that paid off. 1 First, I happen to find some tie dye left by my students (maybe as far back as April or early May). It had been mixed ages ago (months) and packaging instructions say to discard after a few hours...umm. OK so I couldn't bring myself to pouring it down the drain. 2 Finding some pieces of light color or white absorbent cloth (mine were about 4”x4” bed sheet cloth) I set to purposefully experiment. I folded & wrapped e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Layered {Response} Art

Inchies in process of being stained. I recently read artist Seth Apter ’s post on a question we artists are often asked: How long did it take you? The following blog post will be my response to his thought provoking post which I found rang a few bells for me. Seth’s post for October 20th, 2014 can be reached via this link: The Surface of my Work So, how long does it take to create? ...the art therapist’s perspective. I will give voice to some accumulated thoughts on the particular topic of response art. I feel it is important to make the distinction between response art and other artwork I may engage-in for the purpose of “creating something pretty”. Response art to me indicates a creative process (and/or artifact) that seeks to process an experience; usually to do with intense experiences encountered as a part of carrying out the duties of our profession [for more on response art in art therapy see Fish, 2006, 2008, 2012]. Beginning. When the creative bug cal...
3 comments
Read more