THE DOCTOR IS IN

THE NOIVE

 

Last week, I conducted exit interviews with two supervisees who are moving on. Their experiences at the clinic where we work have been varied, but each separately expressed appreciation for my "courage" in taking their parts in some issues with the clinic administration.

 

The word struck me as odd, because I think of myself as anything but courageous. I had to gird myself for the discussions they referred to by rehearsing and role  playing with family and friends, and I recovered through extensive postmortem discussions with the same and, on more than one occasion, a stiff drink after work. I thought either they must be fishing around for nice things to say, or their previous supervisors must have been real wimps.

 

Then I got emails from friends who had been to my Iguana show, and two of them mentioned my "guts" in pursuing and performing this gig. I fear the unarticulated message was, "It takes a lot of guts for someone with your abilities to actually get up onstage," but you know what? It's okay.

 

Because I remembered how hard it was to even register for that first voice class, back in March of 2009. I had to walk around the block several times, giving myself pep talks, before I could make myself go into the office. Then, the night of the first class, a friend had to escort me to the door. When the teacher asked what our goals were for the class, I blurted out that I wanted to be able to get through an entire song without passing out.

 

And I remembered writing about it here, in terms of a Jungian hero's journey. One defining quality of a hero is that she or he is afraid, and pushes on anyway to reach the desired goal. The grace and panache with which this is accomplished are not primary.

 

In that spirit, I offer you this. Feel free to laugh. As anyone knows who has sweated through a story, essay or novel and sent it out into the world, the real point is the doing, the stretching and growing and, yes, courage. Here's to all of us.

 

Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D.,is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself,she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. She is the author of Getting Unstuck without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity(Seal, 2007). Her Career Coach column appears every Monday on Inside Higher Ed's Mama, Ph.D. blog, and she is a regular monthly panelist on Litopia After Dark. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.

Comments

[Susanne Dunlap]

Oh Sue! You didn't tell me when it was! Or remind me anyway! I wanted to come!

[Katharine Weber]

What fun! Very sorry to have missed the live performance (and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy).

(Note: If you click on the video box here you get to the Youtube video which has a box and shows everybody.)

[Katharine Weber]

(Sorry for vagueness; I mean if you double click on this video it takes you to Youtube where the frame is bigger.)

[DrSue]

Thanks, Susanne and Katharine. Susanne, I thought I had, or at least I meant to; but it turns out there will be other opportunities.

Katharine,clearly I need to use the Preview button occasionally. I hadn't realized I'd blotted Antonietta out. There is a video that includes BWBB but it's too long to post on YouTube & it's hard to download, so we're still figuring out what to do with it.