On Saturday, a few family members and I decided to climb a mountain in Colorado. What we originally believed to be a 6-mile round trip hike turned out to be almost double that, but when we reached the top — as pictured above — all the sweat and achy muscles were worth it.
That last mile or so to the top, I kept telling myself, “Put one foot in front of the other.” Instead of thinking about my goal as one monstrous task, I broke it down. And knowing that as long as I could take another step, I could reach my goal, is the reason I made it to the peak.
This is not unlike the challenges that my students face, whether it’s a music therapy objective to meet or a challenging song to master.
Us music therapists know all too well that progress can be slow, but each milestone is something to be celebrated. I’ve worked with some students on the same goals for years at a time, watching as they take baby steps along the way. Some of my voice students spend months and months learning and refining a particular song, one phrase at a time.
But when the day comes that they can perform that skill or song, every last moment of frustration melts away as they stand at the top of their metaphorical mountain with a huge smile on their face.
What mountains have you and/or your own students conquered lately?
Great post,Rachel! I often think that our time away from work teaches us the most about our work through our own self reflections. I have to admit, when reading this post, I totally expected you to post the song “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus ;)
I agree, Amanda. And now that you’ve mentioned “The Climb” I feel so silly for passing up such a perfect (if cheesy) song reference ;)
I love hiking! Although what your post put me in mind of most were my thoughts when I did my first cave. Not only was it a huge cave with lots of break down to climb (lunge) over, but we did it 2 hours faster than a normal trip. My legs stopped working in the last room before the exit.
Keeping that in mind really zeroed me in on those few sessions before a client fully meets an objective. It’s pretty amazing, the determination it takes to move from 3x to 4x consistently!