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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. 
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