On Cloud 12

I don’t talk about work much, but allow me to indulge myself just a little bit.

Today was a much anticipated day for me at work.

My mentor and boss, Dr. E, and I have been developing a prevention program for kids in a camp setting. The program focuses on helping kids learn better coping skills to deal with their emotions. And it is a unique, really wonderful, novel project that will someday change the world. Or at least, that’s the hope.

Anyway it was a long process to coordinate with the camp, recruit kids, get IRB approval and write the protocol (we’re still working on that part… oops!). But today was the first day of camp, and an opportunity to see the culmination of all my hard work come to fruition.

Saying I was a wee nervous is an understatement. I had to wear a black shirt to hide the sweat (but that is partly because it is hot as H E double hockey sticks here in June). I had nightmares last night about children getting lost, parents yelling at me and some of my idols, with no feet, running around on crutches ordering me to start painting. (Yeah, I don’t know what that last one was about…)

So today when E came home and saw me lying lethargically on the couch after work, I think he was prepared for the worst (I may have catastrophized a little to him over the past couple days): My fun activities were a flop, Kids were crying, parents have started pulling their children out of the program, no one wanted to sit with me at lunch, a kid closed the door on his finger and it swelled up like a balloon.

But the truth is, only one of those things happened! And in my opinion, that makes it a complete success!

The kids are cutey-patuties, the program went off without much of a hitch, and I will probably only get like 5 angry phone calls from parents. But it was EXHAUSTING. We ran 4 groups of about 20 kids each this morning. I was almost startled by how quickly the adrenaline left my body. By 4pm I was nearly catatonic and when I got home I was just going to “rest my eyes” and suddenly it was 5:30 and thunder storming (well that bit wasn’t too surprising, damn Miami weather).

I clearly have the endurance of a sleepy kitten. I think it’s time to make this yoga threat a reality. Seriously guys, I’m embarrassed.

But yah, the good news is I’m totally going to be a clinician one day, and if today is any indicator, I’m not going to seriously suck. I’m on cloud 12. It’s a sleepy cloud.

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