Therapy is Like Skiing (Kinda)

I went to Breckenridge last weekend with my Dad and my two kids. It was my first time skiing in four years (it’s hard to ski when your pregnant or nursing a newborn!).

My Dad’s been skiing almost yearly for about 50 years. Me? I’ve been a couple dozen times over the past 15.

My Dad looks like a pro when he skis. His skis are parallel, they’re close together, and he can zoom down a blue (intermediate) slope, turning side-to-side like it’s easy.

Me? I ski like I learned to ride a bike–scared to go too fast and heavy on the break (“Pedal!” my Mom shouted, “Pedal!!!”).

Dad would wait (patiently) at the top of the slope as he watched me zig and zag back-and-forth across the mountain. Beautiful, controlled S-shapes all the way down the slope. It would take me 5 minutes to maneuver my way down the mountain. Longer with the break I’d inevitably take halfway down because I was tired from working so hard.

But Dad waited patiently, watching me as I worked my way down the mountain, thinking through every step and every move my body was making, concentrating and trying really hard to perfect my form.

Then he’d take 30 seconds to zoom down the mountain and catch up with me. (Show-off)

But this got me thinking. This is what many of our patients and clients go through. Isn’t it? Many of our patients and clients struggle with the tasks and challenges presented to them throughout the day.

Just as it took me a long time to get down the mountain, it can take our clients a long time to get through a challenge. Just as I had to think really hard about everything I was doing, our clients usually have to think really hard about what they’re doing. And just as I got tired and would have to take frequent breaks, our clients, with all the working and thinking and trying they do, may have to take frequent rest breaks.

Although as a therapist, these are things I “know,” it’s always good to be reminded through experiencing and feeling what it’s like to struggle through a task. I can only hope that this helps me sympathize more with my clients, to have the same patience with them that my Dad had with me.

And it’s good to be aware that I should remind my clients it’s okay to take your time zigging and zagging down the mountain, taking a rest break if needed.

Tagged as: clinical skills, music therapist, musings, therapist