Day 1

So today started off a little bit rocky...and then everything escalated and got out of control, and it wasn't until I was sitting thinking back on everything that I realized the need for this blog. It was a highly intense day (as most days in my line of work are)...but yet it's SUCH a rewarding job... that I always find myself reflecting on the day during my commute home... I never leave work without "food for thought" and alas... a dream was born... what if... what if every day was like Thanksgiving... where we remember what it is that we are grateful for? I mean it doesn't have to be anything monumental...often times it's the smallest of things that we take for granted.

Take my day for instance...found myself rushing this morning as I overslept my alarm clock, thinking "could I just call out, roll over, and go back to sleep"?... but knowing that this was not at all possible given what was on my "plate" for the day...so I rushed around, got myself ready, and still managed to get to work 10 minutes before I had to be there (gotta love when life is on your side right?... oh look.. I'm grateful for something and I haven't even gotten to that part yet).. :-)

I get to work, knowing that I have this difficult conference ahead of me, and knowing that I need to prepare myself emotionally for what might turn out to be an "explosive" conference (whereby there are many unresolved issues between a client and another counselor)...I make my usual cup of coffee, sit down at my desk to start looking over the chart again, making sure all my i's are dotted and t's are crossed, and making sure that I don't forget to stress the positives while also addressing the negatives of this particular evaluation... when who should walk into my office but a colleague who has been out on medical leave. They sit down at my desk, and start talking to me (things completely irrelevant to my job)...knowing that they were taking up precious time from mental preparations for a difficult case, knowing the meeting would be starting shortly, and all this while watching my coffee grow cold... What do I do...as a counselor,... as a human being,... as a colleague...? I "evaluated" the situation and did the only thing possible...I was there for the person when they truly needed a person to be there (after all, that IS part of my job)...I held the conference shortly thereafter (and it did get emotional)...started a new group, and interacted with a lot of different people...

So here's a short list of things that I am truly grateful for today...

• I am grateful for being...alive...a human being...healthy...loved...and (for the most part) accepted for who and what I am.
• I am grateful for my colleague...who saw something in me this morning that I might have necessarily seen today...my genuine ability to put life and plans on hold...and truly be in the moment (and yes I realize that sounds very zen, LOL)...addressing the needs of individuals right then and there, providing a safe environment for someone who simply needs an open mind and heart, as well as a willing ear to listen
• I am grateful for not having had been set on fire in my own home by burglars, for not being shot, for not being hit by a car, as well as for not being stabbed (causing me to have a prosthetic eye) *** a compilation of two clients I have recently been in contact with ***
• The above has taken place within short intervals of one another... imagine...getting over a bullet wound, only to be run over by a car (nearly paralyzed)...to then be stabbed shortly thereafter
• Or imagine being in the comfort of your own home, only to be robbed, setting on fire and left for dead...to have such severe degrees of burns that the hospital induces a comma to try and save your body...only to have to amputate your arm (from the elbow down)...and all you have left is a metal hook that you to walk around with in place of a hand (because you can't afford the nice "prosthetic" hand
• And yet, still you have the willpower and the motivation to go out there into the world and make it a better and safer place for everyone.

I AM TRULY GRATEFUL FOR BEING!!!!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's "food for thought"

Much Love,
Serendipity2908