my first time.

Being in the rehab gym today was like a breath of fresh air. I've been a little overwhelmed with the abundance of change in my life right now. I'm going back to school. My work schedule has changed. My husband's working in another state. These are all changes for the better, but needless to say, I've been a little stressed.

But spending time with a real living, breathing patient today put it all back into perspective. A knee replacement. He busted his knee when he was my age, and it forever changed his life. The first time he went to rehab and was able to walk up the stairs, he cried. It was the first time he'd walked up stairs in 20+ years. His goal is to make it to Bike Week in Daytona on his Harley in March. This is why I'm becoming a therapist.

The reality is that, just like with clients in advertising, I'll always have patients who don't want to listen to me. Who aren't really interested in or impressed with my amount of knowledge. They don't really care to get better. And that's going to be frustrating for me. I'll care more than they will. But it's the ones who are motivated that will make it a worthwhile career.

I think it would be really cool to make every patient set a goal of one activity they want to do when they complete rehab, and then to make it happen for them. Like, if one patient wanted to be able to go skydiving, I would take them skydiving when they completed their program. Having something to look forward to is what keeps people going, and I would love to partner with my patients to make that goal happen.

Which was why today was so important. Looking forward to the impact I can have on a patient's life—enabling them to do something they haven't done in years, like walking up stairs—makes going back to school seem bearable.

On a side note, I realized today that this is probably the last week that I will have free time, so tonight is movie night. :)