5 Ways to Practice Self-Love as a Music Therapist
- Mar 5
- 4 min read
It's that time of year when children (and adults) tend to get a little stir-crazy because they’ve been spending the majority of Winter inside. I’m sure those who have or work with children have noticed this; I certainly have. This can bring challenges with regulation during sessions, which is part of what a music therapist supports, right? Help regulate our clients. What if that state of dysregulation has extended to ourselves as music therapists?
It can be hard to keep ourselves regulated when we focus on the regulation of others. Today, I want to explore the ways we can bring the love and regulation back around to ourselves.
Here are 5 ways a music therapist can practice self-love:
Positive Affirmations for Self-Love
I’m sure every music therapist has discussed or created a song around the use of positive affirmations for our clients. Negative self-talk can be difficult to combat, and positive affirmations, especially in song form, are a strong way to fight off the negative statements we can make when feeling sad or frustrated. Sometimes, we get so focused on what
our clients need that we forget that we can create positive affirmations for ourselves as well.
I like to have a mantra that I say to myself when I feel those negative thoughts creeping up on me. It can be as simple as “I am smart, I am enough, I am doing my best”. Whatever you need to tell yourself to give you that reassurance to get through that rough patch of feelings.
Focus on the Positives
As a first-year clinician, I struggle a lot with focusing on what didn’t go as planned during an intervention or even a whole session. I’m constantly looking for ways to improve my practice and be better for my clients. I forget that it’s not only okay but vital to focus on the successes of each session. The joy that we bring to our clients can be just as important as the goals we are trying to help them achieve.
Music is meant to be fun! It can be easy to lose sight of that when caught up in managing behaviors and data collection of it all. Don’t forget to take some time to reflect on WHY a session was successful, even if it didn’t go as planned.
Put Your Well-Being First
I know, this seems counterproductive when working in a field that focuses on what we can give to others. However, we cannot pour from an empty cup. I’ve heard this phrase a lot throughout my adult life and have been reminding myself of this a lot lately. How “full” our “cup” is does affect the clinician we show up as in sessions, which then affects our clients.
We must put our well-being first so we can show up as the best form of ourselves as we can for our clients. Getting that extra hour of sleep and spending time outside of work doing things you enjoy are great ways to ensure that you have enough from your cup to pour into your clients during sessions. Which brings me to my next point…
Make Time for You
It’s so easy to get lost in what needs to be done for sessions that it can be hard, especially as a first or second-year clinician, to remind ourselves that it’s important to also do things we enjoy to help fill that “cup” I was talking about earlier. Make time for that hobby that you enjoyed before life got busy, spend time reading that book you’ve been looking forward to, and plan outings with family and friends.
Do whatever brings you JOY! We entered this field to bring joy to others; we must continue to foster that joy for ourselves along the way.
Remember Your WHY
Taking data, planning sessions, practicing client-preferred music, and staying current with the latest research and practices take up a lot of time. It can be easy to only focus on doing all these tasks and lose sight of the why. Why did you decide to enter this field? What about it made you want to study all that research, learn new instruments and music, and constantly give to others? It’s so important to remember why we are doing this and never lose sight of that. It can be the driving force for those harder days that we all face from time to time.
Remind yourself of why you decided to do this profession in the first place. It can turn a challenging day into a day filled with gratitude!
There is so much that we do for others as music therapists. It is a selfless profession. While showing others that they matter and belong, don’t forget to show yourself that you matter and belong as well. We are all important in our own ways. It’s important to remember that how we show up for our clients is the same way we should be showing up for ourselves. Not only to have a “cup” to pour from, but also to honor the people that we are and how far we have come to get to where we are in each of our lives.
Want more tips for your wellness and wellbeing as a therapist?
