No more fears!

Get it? Like "No more tears!", the label on baby soap bottles? Ha.

I love puns, so you may hopefully you're a shake-your-head-and-chuckle sort of pun audience and not so much a wow-I-can't-believe-you're-that-lame sort.

I have a funny pun story at to tell you at the end of this post.

(P.S. That was supposed to make you keep reading, not click away.)

When I began to realize that I saw working in a hospital in my future plans, I also realized that my fear of shots had the potential to hold me back.

I only have a few legitimate, freak-out-beyond-reason sort of fears. Cockroaches, scorpions, stinging insects, and shots are pretty much it. The first three just sort of sneak up on you and you have to deal with them as needed, which I can usually do, while freaking out and trying to find anyone else possibly available to save me from the scary insect. However, when it comes to shots, you're walking into the beehive. On purpose.

My fear of shots had been worsening for several years. Each time I went, I was more nervous than the time before, until the time I almost fainted walking out of the clinic because I'd worked myself up so much. Later in my freshman year of college, I had to get allergy tested and they announced that they'd be giving me 10 injections in my forearm. Needless to say, I didn't make it. I fainted after number four.

After that experience, I avoided shots for as long as possible. My mother kept pressing me to get allergy shots, since I'm pretty much allergic to breathing, but I resisted. It was not worth the terror and stress, I told myself. I was living my life around my fear.

Last December I decided I'd had enough. I knew that I was going to need to get a PPD skin test done in order to be in the practicum of my dreams, and I was not going to let myself get in the way. So I took my brother with me for moral support (he's good at making mole hills when you think you're facing mountains), and got myself a flu shot. How? By employing these tricks:

1. Positive self-talk- I told myself I wasn't afraid. I told myself it hardly hurts at all. I told myself it was better than the flu. I told myself I wasn't afraid some more. It actually helped a lot, silly as it sounds. You can't simultaneously think "I'M TERRIFIED" and "Shots don't scare me!!". Mutually exclusive thinking. It works.

2. Transportable support- my brother encouraged me the whole time, talking about unrelated things, telling me I was being ridiculous when I got scared, and encouraging my positive self-talk.

3. Treat yourself- Walking into the drugstore to get the shot, I passed a bowl full of my favorite dark chocolate truffles. I promised myself one if I got through it. Moms do the same thing when they take their little hunnies to get ice cream after getting stitches. Kids, mom always knows best.

The most valuable lesson I took away was the power of positive thinking. (Isn't that a book?? hm...) I stopped myself from thinking about my own fear, and from rehearsing past bad experiences in my head. My nerves didn't even have time to work themselves up before it was over.

As therapists, we spend a lot of time finding ways for people to work with themselves and overcome their problems and fears, but it's easy to forget to use the same techniques on yourself. We do this because it works!

Pun story: One time after the hurricanes hit south Florida, leaving many electric signs broken, I saw a broken Sears sign that said "EARS". I still laugh about it. Not long after, we saw "Men's earhouse". Okay, so maybe it's not really a pun. Still, word humor is the best.

I probably should have blogged longer before revealing my corny sense of humor. Ah well. Now you know the truth.


Also, I've decided to include a song I use in my (thus far limited) music therapy experience with each post, so here's the first one: It's called "Middle of the Night":
http://www.songsforteaching.com/billyjonas/nocturnal.htm
I use this with kids and use different instruments for each animal. I've also adapted it as an early reading activity and a drum circle activity.