Do any of you ever have one of those weeks where Monday feels like it needs to actually be a Friday? All I have to say is WOOF! The work of a Child Life Specialist of full of mountains and valleys. Some of those mountains are literally the highest of the highs and I find my self beaming because of an awesome kid or because I feel I did a bomb job at something. Those are the days where I get home from work and end up staying up WAYYY too late because I am just so thrilled with being a Child Life Specialist. But, and there is always a but, to offset those Everest sized mountains there are some of the lowest of valleys too.
These past two weeks have been a major valley for me, mainly because there have been four separate end of life needs in the span of the same number of days. It only feels slightly ironic that I posted the other day about how much I like doing hand molds.... Not only has this slew of poor outcomes had a saddening effect on me, but it has also hit the nursing staff really hard. The hospital I currently work at is a children's hospital within an adult hospital, so all of the units we have for kids are on the same floor. Everyone shares the same break room and, as per usual, everyone knows everything thats going on in the other units.
I feel like it can be so hard to get out of the valleys once I'm in them, there just always seems to be some sense of an impending shoe drop. One thing that I have discovered that helps get me back on my way up to a mountain though is to go back to the most basic thing I know to do with kids.. create immeasurable joy through play. My immeasurable joy today was from doing shake paint with a two year old. There is just something about hearing a toddler giggle that puts you in a happy mood right? Giggles offset by watching this child shake a container about as big as their torso only adds to the effect.
This profession I've chosen is 100% guaranteed to continue to throw some of the biggest mountains, and valleys, I've ever seen at me. I wouldn't trade it for the world and it is such a neat thing to think that I can ride alongside the families I work with as they experience some of those same mountains and valleys in different ways. I hope that when you find yourself in those inevitable valleys you can remember your mountains.... and also find a two year old laughing.
-K
-K
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