A somewhat quick and somewhat positive update

Day 2 - this will not be a daily thing… I promise

Had lab work done first thing this morning and was only 5 minutes late to my first session which was basically a mitzvah project time… and we were painting flower pots!  Art right off the bat!  Thank goodness.

Next I had a process art therapy class in an art room where I was just a participant.  Used chalk pastels and got myself nice and dirty exploring what my past and future would look like in a book.  Other clients were impressed - until they found out my profession… now the pressure is on (as if I didn’t put it on myself already).

At the beginning of lunchtime I had my nutritional assessment.  Yesterday my admissions counselor had suggested I skip art therapy to eat - I quickly let him that there was no way that was going to happen.  So I was conveniently able to avoid the whole cafeteria issue today.  When my assessment was over I had time to go sit in the sunshine and eat my apple and peanut butter crackers I had packed from home.  

2:00 every day is when our “CORE” group meets with one of the counselors. I thought this might be when I would be introduced to at least a few people.  That’s what I had assumed. Good news/bad news: once a month each CORE group gets an extra art therapy session.  Today was our turn.  I had a good time being creative and drawing a mandala that would represent what wholeness would mean to us.  I will say now I understand more how rushed my students often feel with a 40 minute class period (but at least I give them more than one class to work on almost every project).  I did mine as a page in my altered book which is coming along quite nicely since I am still not really talking with anyone and “enjoy” hiding behind it.

The last session today was supposed to be Strength Training Exercise… but my can-do attitude kind of wore out by that point. This is still new and difficult… and I know it will be until I settle in.  Luckily I ran into my primary counselor in the hallway and promptly burst into tears.  We made the executive decision that I would do much better doing some self-care (aka listening to music and working on my altered book in the garden) instead of going to “P.E.”  This also helped since I was not dressed appropriately and my boots were probably not going to cut it.  

So on a scale of 1-10 - yesterday was probably a 2 (and I’m being generous)... I’d say today was a solid 4 (thanks to all the art I got to make)!

*a special shout out to a great friend who talked me through my day and helped me realize it was better than I first thought - a few hours ago this post would have looked and sounded very different