Conventional physical therapy, regardless of the setting whether it be hospital or private clinic, was not a good fit for me. It took me years to figure this out. Here I was a new graduate with a bachelor of science in physical therapy bright-eyed and beyond-naïve, yet absolutely pumped to start my career. Feeling initially like it must be the setting that is off, I switched to private practice. Not much changed though. Bosses were still impossible to please with their unrealistic expectations driven by greed. Now instead of dealing with unrealistic demands from within a struggling health care setting, it was just replaced with dealing with demands from bosses, insurance providers, and employers. I was over-worked, under-appreciated, under-recognized, and fighting an uphill battle of everything that is so incorrect in our health care system. The main thing that was always sacrificed was the time to provide true quality client care, yet I fought and fought to provide exemplary service with absolutely no structural support. Welcome burn out.
Enter the Discover Physio series. I randomly signed up for a course in Saskatoon to satisfy continuing education demands. I didn’t realize that 3-day course was to going to change my life. It did. I learned a bit about the Integrated Systems Model which was the holistic + alternative model that I then solely dedicated my practice to and which propelled me to become ISM-Certified (starting that Monday!), open my own clinic Within Physical Therapy, + work for myself by my terms.
This model and working for myself was a game-changer. Absolute game changer. Within Physical Therapy was a wild success story. Beyond what I could have ever expected or even hoped for. Until 2020.
Enter pandemic. Among other things. You can read the earlier blog posts about why I closed Within Physical Therapy and pivoted to Step within.
You see, part of my drive for creating WPT and making it a success was certainly for the right reasons. I’ve seen everything that is absolutely wrong with our mainstream system, and I’ve got a strong mind and stronger will (I’m a taurus, okay, what can I say?) and so I decided to buck the mainstream and do what I felt was right. And I stand by that. And will forever. I offered a service like no other to a community that not only needed it, but embraced it.
But, part of my drive for creating WPT and making it a success was incorrect. Incorrect burdens and energetic patterns made my drive an unhealthy one. While the burn out from conventional physical therapy was staved off, the incorrect burdens and energetic patterns remained. And I finally took a hard look at them all amidst the mayhem of the pandemic, regulatory confusions, and the obvious divide between mainstream + alternative at that time. It’s like all of this mayhem occurred at once and came to an absolute boiling point where I could no longer fail to see what wasn’t working. Sure, I could’ve just put my head down and worked and ignored it all, but I knew deep in my core I had to stop, pause, reflect, and adjust my course if I truly wanted to be the best practitioner I could be.
Remember earlier when I said I’m a taurus, and so I decided to buck the mainstream and do what I felt was right? Well, I again, took a stand for what is right. And that meant severing ties with the identity of being a physical therapist in Saskatchewan. Period. And I stand by my decision. 100%. No regrets. No looking back. Ever. If you all knew the whole story A through Z, you’d see why I had to take the stand I did.
And so the pivot was necessary. I now see how much those old energetic patterns and the unfairness and incorrectness of our system was weighing on me. I have a freedom and a passion for the work I do at Step Within that Within Physical Therapy could have never offered me. I’ve stepped further into my authentic self and my life purpose.
Some battles are not worth fighting, and letting them go can show you a whole new path you were blind to because you were so stuck in proving a point. Let that sh*t go. It’s heavy. It’s useless. It doesn’t have to be your destiny to keep fighting it. It just functions to occupy you in distractions that hold you back.
Become the butterfly and just fly above it all. It’s great…
I’d love the opportunity to show you how to do the same. Reach out! I’m here, and I’ll reach back.
