I have been pondering on and off this past week what to write in my final post on what makes me a ‘better’ clinician. Initially, I was annoyed that I was even thinking about it. I had taken a long weekend off, away from work, and so I was trying not to think about work.

And then it all became very obvious. Breaks make me a better clinician!

For three days straight, I did not think of work. Or if I did, I quickly banished it from my mind. (I admit, on the first of the four days I took off, I did do some thinking related to work, but it was very relaxed, on a subject I have a passionate interest in, and I stopped when I started to get tired.) It. Was. Glorious.

The magic of Taking a Break did not happen right away. My first day back at work was exactly like a first day back at work after a break. What am I doing here? Why is it so hard to focus on researching patient histories? Professionalism? Where did I put that…I’ve been acting goofy all weekend. Whyyyy am I soooo busyyyyy?

But then, suddenly, the second day back, my mind was filled with 10 million (exaggeration) new activity ideas for my clients! Now the only problem is to find the time to put some of them together. But it made me feel like I was an SLP again; not some robot-SLP going through the motions and drilling cards with children for eight hours a day.

Happy Better Speech and Hearing Month!  …and take a break!