Live like you are leaving

As I transition into my 2nd year blogging, I have decided to welcome in guest bloggers. I feel there are so many wonderful experiences out there that only benefit others if they are told. As I said before, this blog is here to "help us determine different learning experiences". Hope you all enjoy Sarah from OT Potential, if you haven't checked out her page you should! 

LIVE LIKE YOU ARE LEAVING...
I am excited to be serving as a guest blogger on OT Huddle. I love the sharing that is happening here and hope to see more from “m.”

A theme of the past few posts on OT Huddle has been transitions. I myself am a relatively new therapist and am starting to realize how common of an experience it is for young therapists to transition between several jobs, as we seek to find where our skill set and interests best intersect, in addition to figuring out where our jobs fit with relationships, babies, etc. 

I recently concluded time at a job that I loved. My reason for leaving was that our family is moving, not that I was unsatisfied with the work place. My last couple months there were just glorious. I felt like I was able to do the kind of work for which I went to OT school. I felt close to my team. I was on board with the overall mission. I was learning new things. I felt like I was making a difference.  

Basically, I was on OT cloud nine. Part of feeling was definitely that the setting was a good fit for me. But, part of how I experienced the past couple months was definitely attitudinal. I had an end date in mind. This did three things...

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... First, it helped me to look past the frustrations that can sometime bog down the work environment. Secondly, It made me focus on the things that I really wanted to accomplish with my last few months there. I tackled projects and improvements that I had always put on the back burner. Lastly, I was more bold. I am a serious internal processor, which means that during meetings and interactions, I often hesitate to share my thoughts if they are not fully formulated. My husband encouraged me as I started me transition to be reckless, and I was. Well, reckless in the sense that I spoke up in meetings.

These attitudinal changes made a tangible difference. I felt different at work. Living with the the end is a popular storyline in lots of my favorite stories…. It’s a Wonderful Life, Our Town, a memorable episode of little house on the prairie, tons of country songs. Granted these stories are usually pointing to the ultimate end, not just the ending of a job, but I think the same message applies.  

I am very much looking forward to settling down and focusing on growing my craft and investing in one company for a longer haul. But, I wish there was some way that I could bottle up what it felt like to practice with a cognizance that my time there is limited and I had better use each day in the best way possible. I am not certain what the best strategies are to do this, but now that I have tasted what this feels like- I want more. 

Live like you are leaving, folks. 

Sarah