SensorySeeds

Are you parent-pleasing?

Or are you education-providing?

As a recovering people-pleaser, I realize I often did exactly what was expected while a student or an employee. Being task-oriented and amenable, I put the puzzle pieces together to create a product, report, or assignment for what the professor or boss wanted. I rarely pushed buttons, suggested a different approach, or asked why. I just got it done.

This carried over into working with families in clinic settings. If a parent wanted their child to do X, I did everything I could to make that happen. However, this might have been teaching the child a staple skill, rather than building the foundational skills necessary. 

As I became a more skilled therapist, I learned that foundation-building and education-providing were much more important than “meeting the goal.” This can be difficult to implement, as it takes patience as a practitioner, and regular communication with caregivers.

A parent may want the child to tolerate or learn a certain task as soon as possible, and who can blame them? They want their child to succeed! But we may see the child isn’t ready, or needs to achieve smaller steps first. 

Check in to make sure you’re not forcing outcomes, but rather reviewing the path to growth. Provide this information to your families so they can see how important those small steps are to achieving the higher outcome. 💫

How often do you take OVER 1-2 days off for legit R&R? My answer used to be - rarely.

This past week I have been back in New England visiting family. I told myself that if I moved across country (again), I would be in charge of my schedule so that I could build in time to go visit.

Furthermore, this has become a time for me to physically and mentally step away from work and my biz, not because I am “sick of it” but because I LOVE my job and clients, which leaves my brain ignited and full for months at a time.

During my past two trips east, I’ve taken a healthy disconnect from work for several days, then steadily notice how new space develops. Stepping out of the client bubble and the work-week repetition, I’m able to re-establish treatment ideas, ways to re-vamp OT sessions, and where I want to take Sensory Seeds.

It’s been a great reminder that without taking space and time to rest, there isn’t any room for expansion and growth.

I can’t wait to dive into the new September schedule and see my kiddos again this week!

P.S. A favorite way that I ground and restore is listening to killer songs on repeat. This week’s jam: I’m Your Wreck, Mt. Joy 🎵

I’ve wiped out 90% of my anxiety.

The other day I was sitting on the couch, and thought “oh my god, I haven’t felt highly anxious in months.”

Yes, I still get nervous jitters and butterflies, but that simmering anxiety that lived with me for so long, the heavy anxiety that wants to rule the roost, has dissipated.

So I asked myself Why? What has shifted?

And I realized this.

I am living in a place that feeds my soul.

I have identified specific values to root into, and make decisions and boundaries based on these.

I am regularly seeing people who make me laugh, take me on adventures, and fill my cup.

I invested in therapy in 2018, 2019, and 2020 (which could be a book and 23 other posts).

I did reiki and ayahuasca in 2020, and released major energetic knots that were blocking my ability to expand.

I get on my mat first thing every morning, spending at least 20 minutes to find my breath and security.

I don’t drink coffee anymore.

I feel connected with my mother, father, and brother, even though living 3,000 miles away.

I have one day each week for me. To find space, to explore, to catch up on life, to do whatever I need to do.

I created a work schedule that’s balanced, while treating children that light me up.

— It isn’t easy to walk through the muck of life to get to this place, but it’s possible. I realize that the investment and work I’ve done over the past 4 years have been building blocks to get me to this point.

So I ask you - what is 1 thing that’s stirring up high anxiety for you? Comment below, or take time and think on this. Now, what’s 1 thing you want to do to help release that?

Entrepreneurship: seeing a massive mountain and wondering how you’ll get to the top.

When I started my business 7 months ago, I wasn’t sure how it would evolve, but I knew I had to start laying a foundation and taking one step forward each week.

As clients steadily came in, I have shifted my policies, strengthened my intake process, and practiced setting boundaries to keep a schedule I desire.

I have taken slow and gentle steps, at my pace, to create a sustainable practice, while working with children and families that light me up.

I have had people reach out asking when I was opening doors to a clinic, if I would rent space, or if I was going to add employees. But I have practiced staying in the lane of where I want my business to be currently - which is a sole owner, offering in-home therapy, in charge of my schedule, and rooting into my values.

What I’ve learned over this time, is that there isn’t a “top” to the mountain. It’s a steady hike around the mountain. Choosing to hike a trail that will burn for a bit but take you to the next level. OR choosing a flat trail to step back and enjoy the process of what you’ve created.

Today I am celebrating 6 new referrals that have come my way in the past two weeks. I am settling into this momentum and feeling gratitude for this profession and how we can evolve it into something we desire.

Freedom.

One of the first reasons I desired to start my own business was to have freedom.

Freedom to have a healthy amount of clients that I could fully invest my energy into.

Freedom to structure a schedule where I feel balanced and productive.

Freedom to have Fridays off.

Freedom to occasionally shift my schedule for my personal plans or changes in my client’s plans.

Freedom to take two weeks off to re-set, rest, and reconnect when I feel called to do so.

✨I read the other day that “entrepreneurial freedom is about so much more than escaping the same old, same old of the working day — It’s about being the master of your own destiny and reaping the rewards of your own endeavors.”✨

How do you feel called to add more “freedom” into your professional routine?