When I started my job in October, I was extremely overwhelmed. It was my first job as an independent therapist, I had big shoes to fill from the previous therapists who had run my building before I got there, and I was on my own in my department as the only OT with some very experienced and established and intimidating physical therapists and speech therapist. And outside of our tiny therapy world was the huge retirement community with a ton of needs, a ton of staff set in their ways, and a ton of change that needed to happen. I had a challenging productivity goal, and an even more challenging caseload mix that represented every end of the spectrum of functional independence, disability, and rehab potential. Not one patient I had on my first caseload as an official OT was aaanything like the 6 months worth of patients I had seen on clinicals. I was in way over my head!
Now it is 6 months later, and I am kicking butt! My PT boss, physical therapy/speech therapy team and our office coordinator listen to the things I have to say, ask me questions and respect me... even compliment some of my ideas and take my advice sometimes! Not only that, but I have branched out to working at 3 other facilities in the area... further advancing the variety of types of patients and conditions I get to see, and giving me lots of opportunities to network and meet other therapists, see other styles, and learn... a LOT! There were definitely times (a lot of them...) when I questioned whether this was the right first job for me... but now I realize it could not be more PERFECT and how truly lucky I am that I got this opportunity....... and how it also happened to be the first (and ultimately only) job I interviewed for.
Lately I have been wanting something new to challenge me outside of work and put some of my other skills to use. I have gotten involved with a church choir here, which is great and all... but this essentially means I am spending the vast majority of my socialization during the week with people who are 70 and over. I love them... don't get me wrong. But it's about time I find some people who are more... in the same phase of life as I am.
I decided to explore the local chapter of a large women's service organization here. I had been looking into it off and on since the winter, but this month it is finally the time of year where they are recruiting new members! I just went to the informational session tonight, and I am so excited to get going with my application, attend all the meetings and requirements, meet the other members, and just get involved! Basically it sounds like they connect members with a number of options of volunteer opportunities, equip you with the skills to do well at them, and provide a lot of networking and leadership opportunities. I got the feeling that the other prospective members who were there tonight were looking for the very same thing as me. I got to talk to quite a few people tonight... just small talk... but it felt GREAT to genuinely interact with other women who I have a little bit more in common with! I think it's going to be a good fit so I can't wait for it to really get started!
I had it in my plans before I even graduated, that I would try to have a secondary job when I first started out so that I could make extra money while I'm young and ambitious. I also had ideals of working in more "traditional" OT settings so that I could strengthen my fundamentals and become comfortable with the working environments. Since I started my full-time job, it was hard to picture ending a crazy stressful week only to go do it all over again somewhere else crazy and stressful for two days... without a break. But, now that I am so much more comfortable with my full-time job, gaining some hospital-based OT experience is now something I really want to explore. I did a job search and put in some applications online awhile ago, and I got a call today to set up a phone interview with one of the large hospitals here!! They have a fantastic rehab reputation and a ton of locations around the city. Thankfully, I am actually off on Friday this week, so I have some rare free time available that I can do the phone interview! With summer coming up and vacation time in demand, I am hoping there will be some easy weekend hours in acute/rehab up for grabs. I am nervous about having to learn another new whole system and work-environment again... but I am also really excited about the opportunity to grow more as a therapist and be challenged in a different way!
Both of these things happening in the same day is a little ironic... as I came home and sat on my bed surfing the web and getting ready to veg out to a TV show before bed... I have not been as busy as I am about to be (should these two opportunities pan out...) since my senior year of college. And as I walked across that stage this month three years ago... I was BURNT. THE HECK. OUT. I made a promise to myself to "relax" in graduate school and gave up the need to sign up for everything, stopped raising my hand, and quit writing my name down! It felt great! And let me tell you, being capped at 40 hours by my company and coming home to ZERO outside-of-work responsibility... is delightful!
But admittedly, I miss being busy all the time... just a little bit...
I said in college, I felt like I was more organized and on top of things when I had a lot going on all at once. I was forced to be structured and focused so that I could get to everything.
It might be risky getting ready to take all of this on since I've been out of practice a bit... but I will say, there is one big difference between 19-year-old me and 25-year-old me. I know that when I really need to, I can just say "no"!
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