Friday, February 15, 2013
Roles
This week I have been thinking more about all my roles. I have been overwhelmed when I actually list all the roles I have to play. Even in my role as "employee" at my job, I have several smaller roles inside that. The list goes on and on as to the juggling act we all have to play balancing our many roles as friend, wife, mom, sister, daughter, etc. I realized that although I am aware of all these roles, I more or less just go through life performing in these roles without thinking about it. It helps to take a step back and really look at the amount of roles we take on. I know it makes me feel better about what I'm accomplishing in my life as I look at all the tasks I perform on a daily basis. It can also help us prioritize and organize our life and set boundaries for taking on more roles. Once we can use this self-reflection tool to help us in our own lives, we can apply the concept of examining roles and role expectations when working with clients in order to help them succeed in all of their roles as well.
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It is amazing when you write them all down to see how much you do each day. I really like how you pointed out how it can "help us prioritize and organize our life and set boundaries". I think the most important thing as social workers is knowing when to say no. If we take on too much, we won't be able to do a good job for our clients and will wear ourselves out.
ReplyDeleteIt really is overwhelming to look at all the roles we each play!! At the same time, I think it can be validating to see how much we are capable of doing. Each role is complex and contains a number of subroles, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteAs you pointed out, Erin, taking the time to look at our many roles can assist with prioritizing. Also, I think it can help us to sort out what the role expectations are and how the expectations were developed. Are there roles we are willing to give up? Are the important roles such as mom and wife getting the nurturing they need? Is the role of student getting the time it needs to achieve succss? Examining our roles can certainly lead to a great deal of reflection and assessment.