In this month’s blog post, Susie Hewitt, Core Tutor to our Advanced Year 2 students reflects on the year that’s been and how we can use this time to regain our balance, revive our energy and prepare for the year ahead.
This blog publication finds us still in a time of historic import: the COVID-19 period. A time when isolation is rife; grief processes are stifled; and fear and uncertainty about the future is still unsettling. I wonder if in the future we will delineate this era historically by stating whether it was a pre-COVID time or a post-COVID time?
I’m reminded of a memory where a mentor exhorted me to embrace times such as these, to sit with the uncertainty without needing to change it. He invited me to think about how best I could renew myself, physically, mentally, emotionally. We spoke of learning to drive racing cars or fly helicopters (I did neither), of reading books I usually never have the time for, of renewing relationships that have been neglected, of finding a new hobby or way of exercising, of developing the discipline of a daily writing habit, of investing in my spiritual self or my nature connection, or of reviewing my life goals.
As a TA trainer, supervisor and therapist, it is not unusual to take the month of August off to reset and replenish. To fill my tank ready to start a new academic year’s journey in September. Possibly like yourself, I had a family holiday planned over the summer which has been cancelled. There are still opportunities to get away somewhere else, and also the opportunity for a staycation – I’m undecided as yet. I know that the cost of teaching, supervising and client work through Zoom over the past 4 months has been significant, exhausting and rewarding at the sametime. We never planned this new way of working and learning and have had to evolve and adapt as humankind always does.
You may have noticed the renewal of the Physis Scotland website, and it’s embedded secure student area. The team at Physis Scotland have been renewed and supplemented with several new trainers. You may have invested your time in renewal the past few months in the plethora of CPD opportunities that arose online. You maybe looking forward to the renewal and growth you will experience as a result of this coming year’s training. You may have renewed your home, garden or other important space. I’ve been curious about whether renewal is also part of self-care.
In Muriel James’ TAJ article in 1995, she narrates her journey into Transactional Analysis and the hard times that were the backdrop to this. She shares the impact to her of the loss of Eric Berne, and how at 77 years of age, she still had a passion to learn. In the article’s conclusion, she shares a quote placed on her mirror by the philosopher and psychologist William James:-
“I will act as if what I do makes a difference.”
I’d like to wish you well as you prepare for this next academic year. My hope is that you are renewed through your learning and attachments at Physis Scotland. The privileged profession of the counsellor & psychotherapist is about making a difference, and I am glad to belong here.
