Why This Matters For YOU and the Work You Do

If I can be honest about me, I’ve not always had my priorities straight. And there are times, even now, when I found myself off balance and off center. When this has happened, I now know that I physically react to the inward conundrum and chaos I feel. It could be an eye twitch, eating too much of this or a lot of that, even being overly emotional about things that normally wouldn’t get an eye roll.

I’ve discovered this about myself. I understand me so well I now know that these are not things to gloss over or ignore. They are my ripples in the pond.

A good friend of mine once told me over lunch that whatever work tasks or social offerings do not fit around her priorities, she will say No. When I bring this up to her, she does not recall fully and is marveled at her wisdom. I am not…you need those people around you to feed you when your soul is hungry.

But for women…women clinical leaders who do too much…who are racing to do the next…who hold up the banner of collaboration not competition but feel race to show up…the women who demonstrate the need to prove their presence in the ever changing populous of ABA and other clinical leaders….I will impart to you the best advise I’ve ever been given.

YOU matter. YOU matter so much that pausing never requires permission. YOU are needed in spaces in your life with the real people that know you best. Those are the priorities. Career is present and can be reimagined-redeveloped-repurposed-and even reinvented. But the people in your life…make time for them. Honor where you are and sit back and enjoy your life. And if the inventory of your life does not make you smile, put in the work and fix it.

Here’s what I know. When you fix that, your work is more meaningful. You supervise better. You are more efficient. You impart solid support to the budding professional who is watching you. You are more patient with colleagues because you have given grace to yourself. You are better able to articulate your needs because you have done the self-work. And equally important, you grow.

Clinical Leadership can be challenging at any time…but especially now. You are tasked to have answers you may not hold (yet). You are tasked to make decisions and be creative and you are bone dry. Innovation, Creativity, Leadership within or outside of a crisis is always necessary…anything else is boring. But your best self cannot fully operate in the headspace of leadership if we don’t acknowledge and embody the perspective that leadership is lived. It’s not something you step into because you ask great questions in a facebook group. Leadership does not require superhuman talent and superheroics of being all things to all people. Leadership does not mean sole burden bearer.

When we cultivate the relationships of those we hold dear, they uphold and support us in the spaces that matter to us. I am fortunate to have such and understand that it continues to happen for me because I feed those relationships. My workplace benefits from the emotional support I have in my family and close friendships. This allows me to demonstrate clarity-strength- and failure bounce back in certain and uncertain times.

We can attend all the webinars…host the best courses…be an influencer in our profession. But when you are hollow inside, you begin to ask the profession to hug you and give you what you should be giving yourself all along.

The next time you are challenged personally and things at home are not going in the direction you intended. Those environmental variables matter and need to be adjusted. Fix it. Fix them. Fix you…that’s the real Behavior Change.

Enjoy Life! Because it is the single gift we receive…and it matters.

~Landria Seals Green,MA., CCC-SLP,BCBA

Photo by Pedro Kümmel on Unsplash