Changes, changes, and more changes

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Posted on 24th August 2010 by SharonSanquist in My musings | School | Transitions

Cute story- I met my new next door neighbor and her son recently when they came over and introduced themselves. The son just graduated high school and was getting ready to go off to his first year of college. His mom was helping him pack for dorm life and it dawned on me that I was doing the exact same thing, except I will be living at my house in NJ, and not a dorm. It was a bizarre feeling given the age difference between us.

My summer is just about over and I will be starting my last year of school in about 2 weeks. This is great stuff, but at the same time, I am extremely sad to be leaving my partner and dogs behind in FL to do this. Sure, I will be coming back at least once a month, but it is still hard.

This summer has been also full of changes. We settled into our new home in FL and it has been fun setting up the house and decorating it. I’ve also enjoyed spending time in the pool and exploring area beaches and shopping!  I love the beach and am so happy to be living near some beautiful beaches where the water is clear and warm and the sand is soft and white…oh yes! We have met some really nice people here and I know that I will fit in here and have contacts lined up for when I come back permanently.

So, in about one week, I will be packing up the car and heading back to NJ. I am excited to be starting my last year of my MSW program and both my classes and internship all look to be very interesting as well as challenging. So how am I going to keep my sanity during all of this?

1)      Communicate! This is my number 1 priority for those times I am feeling stressed, depressed and lonely.

2)      Make time for friends and family. It will be really important for me to socialize to help keep balance in my life.

3)      Make sure I have enough down time to just vegetate by the TV or whatever

4)      Fly back to FL as often as I can to get some sunshine and love :D

So how do you cope with major changes?

~SS

Attachment & Dogs

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Posted on 16th May 2010 by SharonSanquist in My musings

Attachment is an interesting thing. I studied attachment theory in school and while I was out with my dogs today, it was clear that one of my dogs was demonstrating secure attachment. Ok, so now I am relating psychology to my dogs! I took them both to a dog park today for the first time and one of my dogs Rosie (13yr old-on right) went about walking around, but my other dog Olivia (3 yr old-on left) stuck right next to me and wanted to be reassured. She eventually explored a little on her own, but when she got scared, she came running back to me. I of course petting her and reassured her, and she was fine to go back out again with the other dogs. This struck me as the same thing that little children do with their mothers.

I can see that when a child does not receive this reassurance, they become uncertain as their feelings of safety are compromised. So what happens if a child does receive positive secure attachment as a toddler but then loses is when they are a little older? I wonder if the same things happen in both cases as this child grows into adulthood.

Just a random thought that crossed my mind on this beautiful day out in the park…

~SS

Terminations and Transitions

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Posted on 23rd April 2010 by SharonSanquist in Counseling | School | Therapy | Transitions

I’m so happy to be nearing the end of the semester, but feeling a bit sad at leaving my field placement that I have been at since last September. I’ve developed a nice working relationship with the staff and have so enjoyed working with my clients as well as talking to other members of this therapeutic community. With just 2 weeks left, I am in the termination stage with all of my clients and groups and this is a new experience for me. I’ve had some amazing sessions and positive outcomes…as well as a few that were just not open to change. Life right?

Working in a long term residential rehab has been a really good experience but now I have my sights on gaining experience in an outpatient setting.  Today, I went for an interview at such a place as part of my final year clinical placement and it was mutually agreed that I will be placed there. Yay! It is a community mental health outpatient network that also provides partial care for individuals with a more serious mental illness. A perfect fit for me and the location is right down the road from where I used to live, so I know the surrounding neighborhoods.

So, now that my final year placement is set, I can focus on finals and our move to FL in June. Oy, so many changes…

~SS

Change Happens

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Posted on 1st April 2010 by SharonSanquist in My musings | School | Stress & Anxiety

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Oh, I haven’t blogged in awhile and thought it was time. Part of the reason is that frankly, I haven’t had the energy to even think about writing outside of school work. Also, I’ve been sick on and off for awhile now and have developed asthma which is kicking my ass. I am doing fairly ok while trying to keep the asthma under control.

Life is all about change right? This has been my path since I decided to go back to school and change careers. While I like change (wink wink), It takes me a bit to adjust to big changes, as probably most people. In the past, I faced most things matter-of-factly and did the best I could to deal with whatever fallout happened. This mode worked well and still does to a degree, but it was not the healthiest way since the stress level was always high.

So where am I going with the ramble you might ask? Well, I am now facing another big change but this time, I feel I am making better decisions for me and my wellbeing. My partner accepted a new position in Tampa Florida, which means that we now have to move and sell our house. Over spring break (not quite a week), we went there and bought a house :-O. Most of our friends and family could not believe that we were able to do this in such a short amount of time.

Truth is that we had already done some research and talked to people already living in that area, so we were not going in blind. Plus, our relationship is such that we have excellent communication and were able to negotiate with each other quickly and come to mutual agreement with NO arguments!!!

Now, this leaves me to my school…I have one more year to go and decided that it was not in my best interest to transfer to the university there since I would lose a whole semester of credits. The biggest thing for me is that since I know that there is so much change going on, I really needed to hang onto one thing that will be consistent. This unfortunately means that we will be apart during my last year of school.

This will be hard for us; we have been together almost 15 yrs and have a tight bond. The plan is for me to travel once a month and go to FL on breaks. Skype will also help too. The good news if that I will now take the summer off and spend it in FL, mostly relaxing by the pool.

We are both excited about this change, and know that it is coming at a pretty good time in our lives. There is a sad part to this change, as we will be leaving some family behind and there will be certain endings that will be happening sooner than expected, which is causing some anxiety. I am thankful for the support that I do have in place and will so rely on this/them as things start to move more quickly.

~SS

Gut Instincts

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Posted on 13th February 2010 by SharonSanquist in Mental Health | School | Stress & Anxiety

Gut instincts- do you follow yours?

I have been thinking about this recently since I had such a strong gut reaction to a new professor at the start of the new semester. After that first class, I went home feeling angry and anxiety started to set in. With me, my body tells me when something is wrong. The telltale sign is headaches and talking in my sleep. This was my gut telling me to get outta there.

Fortunately, I talked to another professor who teaches this same class at a different time and she let me switch to her class. This new professor is so nice and welcoming and this is how it should be. I am now open to learning the things she is teaching and will walk away at the end with a positive experience.

Listening to your gut is so essential. If I hadn’t, my anxiety level would have gone through the roof and made me physically ill, which would have impacted every aspect of my life. I know this from experience. I am always very aware of my surroundings and have learned to follow my instincts when that red flag goes up or I get an uncomfortable feeling. Usually, this is a good sign that something is amiss and to focus more intently of what this feeling is telling me.

I find that this has been a godsend when I am working with clients. I am able to focus on the presenting issues, but more importantly, “feel” what is not being said or presented. I am wondering if this is true for most therapists. Is it empathy? Don’t know the answer, but glad that I am able to tap into this.

How has your own gut instincts affected the way you live?

~SS

It’s that time again…

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Posted on 21st January 2010 by SharonSanquist in Uncategorized

I haven’t written in awhile and I can’t blame it on not having time. In fact, I’ve had a nice break from school for a whole month and really was not up to doing much writing. So now that school has started back up, I decided to write a quick post. I know…

While I was on break, I got to read a great book called “The Therapist’s New Clothes” by Judith D. Schwartz (see blog’s I follow) and a light love story book…got to have balance right? Judith’s book really caught my eye and I was fascinated reading her own journey and perspective being in therapy while in training herself. I got to “meet” Judy on Twitter and was able to share with her my thoughts about reading her book. It has truly become a small world. So if you are interested in this type of topic, PLEASE buy her book!

I won’t talk about the other book :)

I was happy to be back at school and reconnecting with my classmates. Now I just have to go through 4 syllabi and figure out the due dates of everything and try not to get overwhelmed. I can do it!

Oh yes, I said it.

~Sharon

Goodbye 2009!

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Posted on 31st December 2009 by SharonSanquist in Mental Health | Stress & Anxiety

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Well, here it is the end of 2009!

I have many things to be thankful for this year but it also has been a year of struggle as well. I finally received my BA degree in Psychology and have started my first year masters program in clinical social work. My field placement is exciting and I am using the skills that I am learning both in school as well as with clients. I really love working with clients directly and in groups. I don’t know why I waited so long to go back to school, but the timing feels right this time around.

I discovered blogging and the twitter community. I know…a bit behind but as I was dealing with some personal things, I turned to the various blogs and connected with some really cool people…especially WG, formally know as BTC and her amazing now defunct blog and Dr. Deborah Serani who has been so kind and encouraging to me. There are so many other as well…would be too long a list at this point to name all, but you know who you are!

Health wise, not so good. I have always been pretty healthy with the exception of a cold once a year, but this year, I ended up with the flu 2 times, pneumonia once, and bronchitis 2 times. I want to say that a big part of this may be due to the crazy schedule I have right now between school and field placement.

Stress and anxiety are killers. It is amazing how this affects one’s body and mind. Getting enough rest and relaxation (the balance) back is rough. Thankfully, for the last 6 days, this is all I have been doing. Self care right??

So, if anyone is reading this, what are ways that you reduce stress and anxiety?

One thing that I did do is change my school schedule a bit and I may change my work schedule slightly. This will free up some extra time for me in hopes of getting a wee bit more down time.

So, Happy New Year to you all and wishing you love and peace in the New Year.

~SS

Being Thankful

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Posted on 20th December 2009 by SharonSanquist in Mental Health | Mindfulness | School | Stress

thankful

Finally! I can breathe a little and get back to my blog. My class coursework was quite heavy and I thank god that I have support to help me through. Honestly, it has been really rough and took quite a toll on my health.

I am thankful that I made it through Thanksgiving while hosting family and friends at the house for a week and made it through having the flu (again). So, now we are almost at Christmas and I was finally able to go out and do some shopping today..woohoo!..all before this major snow storm of the century hits us..ok, maybe not the century..

I am thankful that I am able to keep up with my twitter peeps as they are really an amazing group of people that bring a variety of perspectives. I love the mindfulness messages that are thoughtful and help me keep centered.

I am thankful that I have a wonderful partner who is thoughtful and who takes care of me when I need it the most…

I am thankful for my friends and other people in my life that I can talk to and process the new experiences and changes in my life. It is a good time as well as a learning curve for me, both personally and professionally.

What more could I ask for?  Rest and lots of it! Maintaining one’s mental and physical health is so important when you are going through a stressful period of your life. Maybe talking about stress will be another post…but for now, I am going to get some sleep J

~SS

Clients and groups and papers oh my!

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Posted on 6th November 2009 by SharonSanquist in Counseling | Mental Health | School

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Oh boy, I am in the thick of the semester and my internship and honestly, I am the happiest I have been in awhile. I am loving that I have individual clients now and run two groups. I am finding that my classes are geared and timed so that the information learned has direct bearing on my internship. It is really cool to be able to immediately put into practice something I am learning. This reinforces the learning process and helps me stay fresh and open.

One downside is that I am so busy and there are so many papers that we are required to write that I am constantly checking my calendar to see what is coming due and constantly having the thought that I missed something. I was thinking about this yesterday and was having lunch with some classmates and one of them said that she hadn’t completed a paper and would just hand it in next week. I was thinking that this is something so hard for me to even fathom, but there may come a time that I will just not be able to get to it all and will have to let some things go. IT WILL NOT BE THE END OF THE WORLD.

Did I just say that?????

I love that I am part of a cohort at school and we have an email convoy going so that if anyone has a question about an assignment or an exam, we all help each other. Isn’t that what it’s about?

Yes..happy.

~SS

Procrastination

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Posted on 10th October 2009 by SharonSanquist in My musings | School

procrastination

It’s a Saturday night and I finally finished one of two papers that is due next Thursday. This looks like I am doing great, but my free time until then is limited. I am a horrible procrastinator and this puts added stress on me. I know it’s not good, but when the pressure is on, I am able to finally focus enough to get busy writing.

The one paper I just finished was to self-reflect about my life in a systems theory or ecological system. On the surface, this looked to be pretty easy, but it’s not so easy to look back at various stages of my life and see how events have changed the course of my life, both good and bad AND to put it on paper in a coherent way.

I found it hard to divulge some personal information but this is part of what my professor is looking for. Not to be nosy, but for us to see how our experiences are all interconnected and make us who we are. I am thinking that this professor is in for a good juicy read and am thankful that he is an open-minded guy.

Tomorrow I start the next paper, but this one is more specific, so hopefully I can crank it out. I long to just sit and chill and watch a good show on TV…my escape seems to be twitter since I am mostly at my computer when I am not working or in class. I think I need to find a better balance so that I don’t get burnt out. Some fresh air?

I am continually amazed at what I am doing in my field placement and I am blessed to be working with such a great group of people. I only hope that my second and final placement will be just as good as I enter the clinical phase. I am fortunate to be doing clinical work now, so I am gaining lots of experience. I am also enjoying getting to know my classmates better and how we are helping each other get through. This is an amazing experience.

~SS

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