As a therapist, I feel stretched and challenged and delighted several times a day. Every day I approach sessions with questions, many of which can be really difficult, and leave me wondering how prepared I am. When I consider preparedness, I sometimes let myself think that I can never be fully prepared, that I am never going to facilitate and support as well as I should. Lately, I’ve repeated to myself, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
At times I let my definition of perfection cripple me. I sabotage myself; I will never know my standard of perfection. I don’t have enough repertoire. I need to learn to play more instruments. I should study mental health more in depth. I need to read a certain number of journal articles each month. If I can’t accomplish all of these things, I shouldn’t bother with anything at all.
Being prepared means knowing, predicting the future, right? To be prepared means to assume that I have the answers before I know the questions.
I’ve been thinking about this post in the blog, “What a Shrink Thinks,” by Martha Crawford. I love the last lines, “No answers please. Deeper questions.”
Now, to work on defining “preparedness.”