Patience vs. Determination

I have often been praised for having patience in situations.  It is more than mere patience.  It is a stubborn determination to battle past a the obstacles...to get past that seemingly solid wall and break through.  In my line of work this often means getting past a child's fear or pride to break through to the vulnerable child on the inside who longs to be loved and understood. 

Many times in my career I have used this stubborn so-called patience to help a child succeed. 

• A four-year-old at nap time who shows early signs of ADHD can't lay still to sleep.  Constant and consistent relaxing touches from head to toe for 30 minutes did the trick and over repeated efforts, helped this child get the rest he needed.
• An eight-year-old who'd been abused and ran away repeatedly intentionally trying to be kicked out.  After hours on end spent with him hiding under a chair in my office, he learned summer camp was a safe place to be.  A place with boundaries and rules he could trust to be there.  This progress allowed him to have a positive experience with other children, other adults, and let his mother attend school to support her children after escaping from their abuser.
• A three-year-old who had been unwittingly taught to use tantrums to meet her wants and needs learned more appropriate ways to express herself and began to accept authority without the tantrums.

Reaching adults is not so simple...they are not children.  They are not stuck with me and I can't lovingly outlast them. They can run away.  Their walls are not so easy to understand and their lies are harder to see.  Their attacks reach a much deeper personal level than a child's feeble attempts.

Physical Therapy

Hello!  The last few weeks have been super busy!  School ended for the kids and summer camp chaos has begun.  I started physical therapy and after two sessions have learned much more about my injury and what things I can do to help my body heal.

Basically, in a bad accident the body is violently thrown/jerked/etc.  The muscles clench in an effort to stabilize the body and protect it.  When clenched muscles are still violently jerked around, it causes injury and aggravates the muscles.  Failure to treat these muscles carefully can result in the muscles learning how to incorrectly behave in response to your body's movements.  Thus, causing additional pain and potential complications.

My therapist recommended not lifting more than 5 pounds for a while if possible.  Resting periodically throughout the day (lying down so my muscles don't have to hold up that weight called my head!), and very gently moving my head in ways that don't hurt my muscles to help the muscles learn to appropriately respond to my body movements.  Basically, anything that causes my muscles to increase in pain or tighten needs to be avoided right now.  A very light massage helps to increase blood flow to the muscles and reduces the pain.  The "tens" instrument (pads that emit electric pulse through the muscle) feels really good when it is on the right setting. 

I am doing a little better.  The hardest part is making time in my busy day to just rest and lay down.  The second hardest is making sure I sleep in a good position.  The other night my little one had a bad cold and couldn't sleep in her bed and after a bad dream didn't want to sleep by herself, so we snuggled on the couch...that hurt, but she needed me most.  :)  We're looking at purchasing a special roll so I can copy some of the exercises at home that I did in PT.