Winning and Losing...

A parent asked me recently how I become so invested in a child's success?

"Are you this invested in all your patients?"

Well, yes.

I often joke the reason I can become so invested in my patients is because I have no life. Remember, my kids are both in college and live in different states. Or, it might be because working more hours means less time to focus on the exercise I force myself to go through - hating every minute of it. We can pretend these reasons are real, but it would be a touch of dishonesty if I let things end there.

The real reason is actualy quite simple: I hate to lose.

The number of patients, mostly children, who discover Vision Therapy as a last resort is fairly astounding. They've had tutoring, they've been tested for ADD and ADHD, and they may of even had to visit the school psychologist to look at ink blots which likely made no sense. Feeling defeated is commonplace, and rightfully so. After all, if you failed at your job day after day after day, yet you still were forced to show up and try every morning with someone sitting in the background reminding you to "just try harder", your attitude would likely be rough, too. Considering our school years are the only time in our lives where we are expected to be good at everything - math, reading, spelling, writing - success is expected at all levels.  The irony is, as adults, we only need to be good at one thing.  I like to think I'm good at helping people, but put some college level math problem in front of me, and well, we might be here a while. Kids need to be good at many skills, yet as adults we only need to be good at one thing.

Seems a bit backwards, doesn't it?

But you see, here's the thing about me: I want you to win, too. I want you to find your successes and victories. I want you to feel good about your life. I want you to be sure that no matter what happens during our session, you feel seen and heard - even if I don't have an answer for your problems. 

Life can be hard. Throw in a member of your family, especially a child, who is struggling, and the degree of difficulty multiplies exponentially. If I can ease some of that challenge by ensuring people are seen and heard, I am there 150%, eight days per week. 

Does that make me "invested" in my patients - maybe.

I prefer to think of it this way: we are all on the same team, and if my patients feel seen and heard, then it's a win. And when they win, I win, too.

Now that you know, how you reach that space in the future is up to you.

Cheers!