A little nonsense now and then…
Last Friday I went to PLU to talk to a classroom of therapist trainees about ethics, practice-building, getting licensed, and anything else they wanted to talk about. One of them asked about self-care. “How do you take care of yourself when you’re stressed out?” she asked.
Short answer: nonsense and silliness. I noticed years ago that one consequence of my work is a craving most evenings for comedy shows, or frolicking with the dogs, or having my funniest friends over for dinner. There can be plenty of positive energy and laughter in my counseling sessions–believe me, it can really help!–but there is a level of intensity in my work that requires a lot of evening decompression. Go ahead and watch “The Wire” if you want. I’m going to watch this.
As I was talking to the students, I kept thinking of Willy Wonka, that great pop-culture example of a healthy (and, yeah, weird) person who stays emotionally healthy by opening himself up to the silly child within. In one scene, he softly sings a line that I’ve never forgotten: “A little nonsense now and then / is relished by the wisest men.”
I hope you can forgive the gendered language and open yourself up to healthy nonsense, to Willy Wonka silliness, in your life.
