How the heck do we take time off???? This is such a difficulty thing for the music therapist (talking from experience!), especially the new professional. Let’s get to the heart of the matter in this blog with an accompanying podcast episode and a follow-up reference guide that you can download for free.
Today we’re talking about deductions on our taxes from all the various expenses we, music therapists, have. To put this in easier terms, what things can we write off at the end of the year when we file our taxes? The things we buy (the money we spend) for our music therapy business will balance out with the income we bring in (money we make).
I’m not here to listen to debates about taxes. I’m just here to offer my wisdom after failing and slowly succeeding at business and filing taxes. I’ve had to pay thousands of dollars back to the IRS, and to answer the H&R Block guy who “helped” us that year… yes, I was surprised. I was naive, I didn’t know any better. No one taught me that I could be a business owner without feeling like a business owner. No one prepared me to file my own taxes and track my income, expenses, and mileage. So here I am, doing my small part on the internet to help out a fellow music therapist or small business owner so you don’t get screwed over (fault of my own) like I did.
Read the blog about Taxes & 4 things that make them easier
I just moved and have been taking in how different this new place is. The good, the bad, and everything in between… and the little things that I’m falling in love with. Sometimes it takes a change, a transition, to give us that fresh perspective we need to motivate our work and keep on going. We may need another person’s eyes to help us see the little things we’re missing. Having a new view can give you just the shift you need to enliven your work or life.
It’s important to talk about grief, and two music therapists are starting the conversation.
Seasons of Resilience is for anyone who goes through challenges, difficulties, and loss but recognizes that life is lived in seasons. We’ll engage in comfortable and uncomfortable conversations, we’ll share about the good and bad, the ups and downs, just how life is. To everything, there is a season and a time for every emotion that is experienced. Enjoy these stories of resilience.
On the second day of the plan in the book How To Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price, we were asked to write a letter to our future selves. What do we hope to feel and experience after we’ve gone through the process of breaking up with our phones? Here’s my letter.
As a music therapist, I learn a lot of music. Songs from any decade, any genre, any style are requested in sessions, and that music informs the work we do together. It may be analyzing the lyrics, rewriting them, or processing through them. The songs suggested have something to say about that person’s life, culture, and faith. And what I’ve learned over the years that I’ve been a music therapist is to not judge a song by itself.
Music therapy combines the elements of music with the elements of therapy. It helps people with their wellness and assists in recovery with musical interventions provided by a trained and certified music therapist. I have loved the work I’ve done as a music therapist, and I hope to continue for a long time.
I know, I know. I shouldn’t pick favorites. I try to uphold each individual to the same level and value all of my experiences equally, but sometimes you can’t help having more of an affinity to one situation/person over another. So, I want to tell you about a “favorite” patient of mine. It is more a favorite string of sessions or a favorite response to music therapy. It is a favorite way of conducting a session, or rather, a patient who challenged me to utilize music in a different way than I had ever done before.
I have this ongoing, never-ending list and someone somewhere once promised me that it would somehow magically get organized and miraculously get to a place where there’s nothing on the list. That world does not exist. I’m so sorry to say it out loud to you and me. The perfect to-do list situation where there’s a day when it gets to zero is a myth, and we have to internalize that at some point.
Besides my existential dilemma with the to-do list and my brain’s constant energy organizing all the things, I tried something new.
Well, I can’t sleep. It’s 4am in Rochester, and I have no idea how I’m going to get my much-needed 9 hours of sleep for today. I’ve been on the verge of panic attacks all night and my stress and anxiety have been through the roof. Why? I accidentally started an uprising within the field of music therapy.
I chose to share these links, this information, the very brief mention of Daniel Prude’s death because this is my city, Rochester, NY. I guess it’s true that things hit harder when they’re close to home… or when they are home. Now the what-ifs of his death are clearly known. The goings-on of the protests are being Live-Streamed each night by my fiends. The reality that one of my BIPOC friends-like-family could die at the hands of cops in Rochester is even more real than I ever thought possible.
Things hit us a little harder when they’re close to home, right? Well, we’re home.
Just a day and a half ago I found out about Daniel Prude. He was just 41 years old and experiencing a mental health crisis. Mental health crises are not new - I have experienced episodes, as have my family members, friends, coworkers, professors, etc. So, why did he die by the hands of police!
Things need to change. Drastically. The police are not policing… they’re killing. It’s not okay. It’s never been okay. Black Lives Matter.
Here’s a list of organizations where you can donate to support Black Lives in Rochester, NY.
I heard a podcaster once say, "it's not worth trying to figure out why you trust someone or not. You just do or you don't." They talked about how it was one of the few things that is inherently a gut response. You just know whether or not you trust someone. Of course I want to analyze this now. There’s gotta be truth to it, right?
