TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO FILE:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT:

THERAPIST: I feel like it's been a while since I've seen you.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: I know you said you were sick last week.

CLIENT: I ended up being sick for like almost two full weeks.

THERAPIST: Oh, my goodness.

CLIENT: It was really, really frustrating, because I ended up not fasting because of it, and it turned out, for all the stuff in the morning, even if you don't well, (A) there was no obligation to read it in the first place, and (B) for the stuff that you had to do, you could get a pass and not be fasting, so that part was fine. So I ended up, because I just felt so miserable and stuff, and it was so hot out and everything and, you know, there was no way I was going to be able to not drink water or anything. And the next day, I felt sick too, so I ended up having to miss work two days in a row, and Thursday, last week, I was able to make. And then this week, Tuesday I felt sick again and was dizzy standing up. Wednesday, I managed to make it into work and in the morning, I was all like, oh I am so fine. I had gotten extra sleep the day before. Then, as I started working, I got dizzier and dizzier, and I ended up leaving at like two in the afternoon, because the longer I waited, the worse I was getting. If it had just stayed the same, I probably would have stayed to whatever, you know, I might as well work when I can, but yeah, so I ended up staying out yesterday too, because I was still feeling sick. I think I feel better today. I worked a day in a half in the past two weeks and now I'm getting worried.

THERAPIST: You're getting worried about...? [00:01:53]

CLIENT: (A) About money, (B) about feeling like my attendance is a problem, even though for these times it was all legitimately, I was not feeling well enough to drive. You know? And like, I guess the fact that I did try to go in when I was still sick, at least meant that I was trying, and I got stuff done while I was there.

THERAPIST: Do you have someone that gives you feedback about how you're doing or what they think about your attendance, or if it's a problem?

CLIENT: I've never gotten any feedback about my attendance being a problem. Jim is my supervisor, like you know, I've gotten feedback about my work, which is everything thinks I'm doing a really good job, but no feedback about attendance. I also haven't asked about attendance either. He always seems fine when I tell him that I'm sick and stuff, but you know, I guess it's not a problem, because my operations don't affect anyone else, and it's really just as long as I get the grant done in time, which I definitely will, then everything is fine. But it just feels like, because if I you know, if I were in a regular, nine to five, or whatever job, where you were expected to work regular hours, then it would be a problem. [00:03:14]

THERAPIST: So you're worried about it because you're projecting, what if this happens in another type of job.

CLIENT: Well, I'm all just protecting what if like then, if Jim is being my reference for my most recent job and says that I had an attendance problem and me coming in regularly would be a problem or something, you know? I'm not sure if that would happen.

THERAPIST: It sounds like they've been pleased with your work.

CLIENT: Yeah. I really, really wish they would just like if they could put all the scanned PDFs into Dropbox and send you know, I could even send myself the... I guess if I... like there is a way that I could well, a way. I would have to be using one of the other computers, because when I did the project with finding the trade log books, they had me on another computer that all the log books on it. The computer I usually use doesn't, so I have to go to that computer, set up a Dropbox thing, put all the PDFs in the Dropbox, and then I'd be able to work from home, but it's not an approved thing, so I don't really want to do that.

THERAPIST: Right, you'd have to ask. [00:04:31]

CLIENT: I'd have to ask and, you know, and then it's like I mean, I guess if I got a decent amount done, then it could work, but they don't have a work from home policy or anything, so it's just like really fetched ideas. While I could theoretically work from home, it probably won't happen and therefore, -

THERAPIST: So, focusing more on I guess one, figuring out whether or not your attendance is really problematic, by maybe asking, how they you know? Acknowledging that you know you've been out a lot the past two weeks and you're wondering if that has created problems or if they are unhappy about that, and then figuring out how to get yourself healthy so you can go back to work. [00:05:17]

CLIENT: I don't really... Now it's dizziness and I don't know, I guess, like if I extrapolate it from the last time that I had dizziness for a really long time, when I went to the doctor twice and the second time asked about the dizziness and he was like oh, yeah, if you're sitting down and driving it's totally fine, like you can drive while dizzy.

THERAPIST: Are you only dizzy when you stand, not when you sit?

CLIENT: I'm dizzier when I stand, except that I was being dizzy at I don't know, like right now I feel fine, so I can't really test it, but it's definitely worse when I stand. It's mostly okay when I'm sitting, but even when I was at the computer that day, towards the end, the screen was blurring and that never happens, so something was wrong. I was able to drive home and be okay, but I don't know. And then I feel like it's in my head and I'm making too much of a big deal out of it. It's not like I'm coughing all the time or throwing up or anything and I don't have a fever, so therefore, I should be.

THERAPIST: But you feel uncomfortable. [00:06:41]

CLIENT: Yeah, but people work well feeling uncomfortable all the time.

THERAPIST: That's true. I guess this could be true.

CLIENT: I don't know how many who work while feeling uncomfortable have like an hour and a half way each way commute.

THERAPIST: In some ways, looking at what other people's experiences are, can be a way to gage whether or not your decision or tolerance is similar, but in the end, you only have yourself to deal with here. So finding out how to get yourself comfortable, rather than whether or not somebody else is comfortable. I don't know if there's a way.

CLIENT: I've tried getting all the extra sleep. I've really gotten a lot of extra sleep over the week and none of it really helped much, so like it wasn't enough to get -

THERAPIST: So it doesn't seem like you have much control over this. [00:07:42]

CLIENT: Yeah, I have like no control and I just have to wait and work extra hard when I get back. It's not like I'm working less hard. I mean, I guess Wednesday, when I was sick, I was.

THERAPIST: You've been out sick.

CLIENT: So, there's really nothing I can do. I did at least find out that my job ends, like like I can stay until December, but if I find another job before that it's fine, as long as I finish the collection, which I should be able to do by September, maybe October, with all the being sick.

THERAPIST: And have you continued to look for job opportunities?

CLIENT: There was one that was perfect and then it was taken like really fast. It was at a zoo, so when I was talking to Pat about it and she was like, these things go really fast, and like it had been posted the day before. Then, as I was working on my cover letter in the afternoon and had e-mailed her back, she actually wrote back and was like they actually just hired someone and that someone accepted. So, I was guessing it was either (A) a reposting, or (B) there was an internal candidate, because Yale never, ever works that fast. So that was the perfect position. I applied for one other thing that day which was sort of above my expertise level in terms of like they wanted five years of experience, and I have more like two years of experience, especially since they usually don't count things that happen while you're in school. So that means yeah, that one's a long shot. I sent in the resume and the deadline for your application is July 31st, so I don't expect to hear anything any time soon but um, yeah. [00:09:44]

There was one today, like I guess a lot of them, I'm feeling are this one is the one that I haven't applied to yet. It's in Wallingford, working for Yale, and I don't really have that much experience with that stuff. I'm working on things that are online but it's not the same, so I'm not sure. We covered it briefly in school, so I have this sort of vague idea of what the best practices are and stuff, but I don't know if I'm qualified and I'm not sure if it's worth the time. I guess I might as well put it in an application, but it's another one that really seems like a long shot.

THERAPIST: Yeah, an end. [00:10:44]

CLIENT: There really haven't been that many things, and there were temporary summer positions, and I'm like that really won't help me, because I'm still working on this in the summer.

THERAPIST: It does seem like maybe applying to long shots at this point, since you're only doing a couple a week, if there were lots to choose from and it was pick the best three, but that's not the position you're in. There doesn't seem like there's that many.

CLIENT: Yeah, or I just don't know. I'm so afraid that I'm going to end up being unemployed again. I probably will and I guess I can try to find -

THERAPIST: And that's why you put your applications in now, even if they're not perfect.

CLIENT: Yeah, because it was for the zoo and I know more about animals than your average person would, and that wasn't really one of the areas of expertise they wanted, but like...

THERAPIST: But it might help. [00:11:46]

CLIENT: Yeah, so. That one pays really well but it doesn't have any benefits, and it didn't even say whether or not it was part-time or full-time. It's like a project position, so I assume it's a temporary position for how ever long the content is, but it's a really big project.

THERAPIST: It sounds like it's worth finishing that application, just to -

CLIENT: Well, that's the one that I put in already.

THERAPIST: Oh, it was the online.

CLIENT: Yeah, the online one is like I haven't started it. I saw it yesterday and that one looks like it's more of a permanent position, because it didn't say anything about a project and stuff, and nothing about salary but it's full-time. So that one at least... I think I can handle full-time work if it's not really, really far away.

THERAPIST: Yeah, it would be a big I mean having a commute within one town can be a huge difference.

CLIENT: Especially if it were like walkable or something, like I did do when I was working at the zoo, I came in every day, like I didn't have any sick days, and I was fine. [00:13:02]

THERAPIST: Well, take it one step at a time. Get the application in, you know, before you figure out whether or not you can do the job, get your application in and see if you get a call back. And then you can start...

CLIENT: I'm just afraid that there's going to be nothing that I'm actually qualified for, and they're all going to be these long shot things that I don't have enough experience for, or things that I'm too overqualified for, that are going to be also low paying stuff.

THERAPIST: I know it was a long haul to get the position that you have now.

CLIENT: I took very little. And I can't really do the temp thing again, at least with that agency. By leaving that position, I've burnt bridges, but I mean that position was definitely not for me.

THERAPIST: Right.

CLIENT: I don't even really have a good backup plan of oh, I will do this while I don't have a job. So, I'm sort of screwed, unless I can think of something to do. [00:14:10]

THERAPIST: It sounds like you're scared about the ending of this project.

CLIENT: I probably will end up staying until December.

THERAPIST: Staying as long as you can. Keep those applications going and see what happens between now and then. You do have the backup plan of staying there until December.

CLIENT: Yeah. Well that's the temporary backup plan. I guess I haven't had this much of a head start before, so... Because when I first graduated, I was too distracted with stuff.

THERAPIST: Right. You didn't start applying until after graduation, and now you have this extra bit of experience on your plate, which might change your application somewhere.

CLIENT: I mean, with such limited experience, and I sort of struggle with how to put it on my resume, and I have something written, but it's like I am only doing one thing for 99 percent of the time. There are no other job duties. I write these documents, they are maybe three aspects of it. There's the part where I go searching for the record and print it off, there's the part where I link and enter all the information from the record, and then there's a part where I need the logbook and entering things, and that's it. It's like the easiest job ever, so I don't know how to make it look like not the easiest job ever. [00:15:45]

THERAPIST: I wonder if part of what looks different on your resume is just that you are currently working at a place.

CLIENT: My resume had before, that I was working at the Pawtucket Historical Society.

THERAPIST: That's right, you were volunteering.

CLIENT: Yeah. I wasn't working full-time or getting paid for most of it, but it was still -

THERAPIST: That's right.

CLIENT: Yeah. So it wasn't like a huge gap anywhere. I don't know why I'm so stressed. I think I'm getting a little bit better with the stress, and we did spend last weekend at my place, and we're going to spend this weekend.

THERAPIST: And how is that with Sydney, making that switch?

CLIENT: It's okay. It took a really long time to get him over but then it was like okay, whatever, if we get there after the rest day starts, it's not a big deal, as long as he's doing the driving and stuff. Once I let it go, it was okay. I'm getting more and more disgusted with the state of the house and I don't know whose job it is, but it was someone's job. For a long time, Minerva and Aaron at least had a thing going, like I was cleaning on most of those Sundays, other people, like Aaron and [Rebecca?], were cleaning on Wednesdays and [Ryan?] was gone for a month, and the person who did the Wednesday cleaning was supposed to take out the recycling and the garbage, but it looked like that pile of recycling, it seems like it hasn't been taken out in over a month at this point, because nobody's Ryan was on trash and recycling beforehand, which is why we have the weird switch around covering thing, and when I asked him about it last week he was like, "Oh yeah, they said that I don't really need to be on anything right now," and I'm like okay, that's weird. No one else is on trash or recycling either. I took out the trash when I was there but the recycling was like a full blue bin plus all this stuff piled on top and I was like, I could have taken out some of it I guess, and maybe if it's that bad I'll do it when I get there tonight or something, but it's just like nobody's doing anything. [00:18:01]

THERAPIST: Nobody's taking responsibility.

CLIENT: The basement has all the [moths?] and it makes it so I can't even do much dining down there now. Nobody is you know, Joshua throws food on the floor and no one cleans up after him, and we never had a meeting to reschedule everything, to put new people on chores and stuff. Aaron still hasn't even found a replacement for me and I'm guessing some of that might have to do with the state of the house, like if somebody is going to come and see the house, they really need to clean it better. I mean it's not really my problem. It also means that for the move, I still don't know what I'm moving. I still have that reservation for the 30th. I still won't know for at least another few weeks, whether or not I can move in on the 30th, and because Aaron hasn't found someone yet, he isn't sure if I could move out on the 2nd. They're both possibilities. I guess a worst case scenario would be like before the move, before the deadline for canceling and getting my deposit back, you know, cancel it and move on the 1st and get a U-Haul and have a lot of friends help out with all the furniture. So it's not horrible, but I'm still like yeah, I still haven't done the clothing part of it but that might be because I'm sick. I still haven't done anything productive at all in my room. At least, I made Sydney take a couple of things home last time, so it's slightly better but not really. Yeah, so it's just all... [00:19:53]

THERAPIST: How do you want to make it through this last month at your house?

CLIENT: Come over enough so I'm not panicking about being at Sydney's place all the time, but not so much that I you know, like we've been going out to eat and stuff while we're at my place, and that's a good solution for avoiding the kitchen, because I think the kitchen is the worst. I can deal with my room being a bit scattered, I can deal with the bathroom not being the cleanest thing ever, but the kitchen is really hard, especially when like no one empties the dishwasher or anything. That kitchen is not usable, so I guess just strategic avoidance at all costs seems like the best plan. I guess I'm kind of part of the problem, but I'm not the one who's creating all those dishes. I will clean some, but I feel like anything that I do end up doing is sort of going above and beyond my responsibility and they should be taking care of the dishes that they create and stuff. Is that unreasonable? [00:21:01]

THERAPIST: Well, it's interesting. I mean, it sounds like you feel like you're not there, you're not creating this mess.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: It seems like such a difference from how things used to work in the house. Whereas the sense I got from you last year was that it was this real communal experience where people were all pitching in and taking responsibility for their part, and now you're talking about nobody's taking responsibility for anything.

CLIENT: What changed is [Liam and Melanie?] moved out, because Aaron wants to do the renovations of their apartment and turn it into -

THERAPIST: And those two leaving really changed everything.

CLIENT: Yeah, like I don't think it's really the whole communal living thing, it's not really feasible with four people, or four adults I guess.

THERAPIST: That's not enough.

CLIENT: There's not enough people to divide up the workload. Some of the chores might be a little bit lessened if you have two less people eating, but most of the chores are still there.

THERAPIST: So it became too much and so now nobody wants to do anything. [00:22:06]

CLIENT: Yeah, so we never really talked to anyone else about the fact that no one's cleaning anything. I'm just like okay, I'll chip away little bits and make it somewhat better, but I'm not going to...

THERAPIST: Well I think for you, since it's real short-term, this is not something that you're investing in any more. It sounds like coming at it from a standpoint of what's going to make this month tolerable for you. So part of that is strategic avoidance, like you said. The kitchen feels unmanageable, so trying to eat out, spending some time at Sydney's. And with regard to cleaning or recycling or trash, looking at what's going to make it manageable for you, and then rather than tallying it against who should be doing what and who is doing what, just thinking, what do I need to do to make this manageable for me. And then it's worth whatever efforts you decide to put in are worth it, because they're making your experience better. Not because you're doing something for someone else or fulfilling an obligation, but you're doing something directly for your own benefit. [00:23:14]

CLIENT: Yeah. And I don't know whether or not, for example, if sweeping up the floor and mopping it would make it more tolerable in there, like if that's just one of many things going wrong.

THERAPIST: Right.

CLIENT: It might make me feel less guilty about not doing anything, but in the end, I think we that's the other thing is that Aaron's mom agreed to pay for Aaron to have a cleaning service come in every week, and it really doesn't look like that's happened, I really don't think it has. That was supposed to take all the to make cleaning a one person job, because then you were just doing the dishes because the cleaning service would do the floors and the counters and all that, and that has not happened at all, because Aaron's mom was not very pleased with the state of the apartment, which is completely understandable. I'm not paying for a cleaning service.

THERAPIST: Right. [00:24:20]

CLIENT: I'm just really looking forward to a place where the kitchen is at least not falling apart.

THERAPIST: It sounds like you're really uncomfortable in your house.

CLIENT: Yeah, I can't stand it. I can deal with my room. I can't deal with the kitchen, it's just too much. And the other kitchen too, like the meat kitchen, I don't really have to deal with it that much to begin with, but those dishes are piled up in the sink and no one's doing them, so, yeah. I'm waiting it out basically and just letting it self-destruct, without trying to maybe I'm wrong and maybe it's just because we all think self-destruction is inevitable that no one's trying.

THERAPIST: Are you guys having conversations?

CLIENT: No.

THERAPIST: No, no one's talking?

CLIENT: We were supposed to have a house meeting but Ryan hadn't come back from his traveling, and we never rescheduled another one, and no one else has initiated the process and I'm not sure if it's worth it for me to try to do that, because I don't think we're going to get the kitchen cleaned, but I think what would come out of those meetings is I get assigned to do more chores, and if I don't say anything then that just won't happen. (inaudible). Ryan's moving out in August, so for the last month, there will only be three people doing I could be wrong. I didn't ask Aaron whether or not Ryan's spot had been filled. I only asked about mine, but my guess is that that one hasn't been filled either. [00:26:06]

THERAPIST: It doesn't sound like the house is in a condition to be shown.

CLIENT: Yeah. I think I'm not going to initiate the conversation, because nothing good will come out of it for me. It's not like we're going to have you know, it will make it so everything is functional, we have a clean kitchen again, through my last month. That's so far beyond what people can do. I mean, I guess we have some excuse, because he can't carry the heavy things right now because he had the surgery. I don't know if that period of not being able to carry heavy things is like still going, because the surgery was mid-June, and I forget. It sounded like it was only two weeks that he had to take off with lifting things, so he should be fine now maybe. So, yeah, it's strategic avoidance. I feel guilty doing this but I guess I'll make up for it. I'll be good in the next place and like, you know, I'll clean the floors and stuff. [00:27:25]

THERAPIST: You feel guilty about which pieces?

CLIENT: I guess I feel guilty about the fact that I get conflicted, about the fact that I haven't really been doing anything for the kitchen, but at the same time, I'm not really using the kitchen. I'm doing a lot for Sydney's kitchen, so I'm cleaning a kitchen and putting away dishes from one dishwasher, just not the one at the place where I am paying rent. Somewhere, I am doing more than my fair share of chores, it's just not at my house.

THERAPIST: Not where you're officially living.

CLIENT: Yeah. It's not like I sit around and do nothing. I actually am helping. I just don't want to be doing it in two houses all the time, because that's just really bad. At least if one other person had been doing stuff and I could see enough to make that be more of an argument for pitching in, but if you saw this kitchen. Maybe I should take pictures of the kitchen. [00:28:36]

THERAPIST: That's not going to change your experience of it. I'm not living there. I'm not going to help clean. And this isn't one of those areas where being right necessarily gets you anything. You can prove it to me, you can prove it to yourself, you can prove it to your roommates, but it doesn't change the situation. You're there for another month and you want to make it as tolerable as possible, and if you can avoid it and that works for you, then that's one way. If you can chip away at little things that make a difference, like the overflowing recycling bin, if that makes you more comfortable. You don't need to prove it to me. It doesn't change your experience. And I'm not disbelieving you, but my objective is to help you feel better, and I think part of your anxiety is about feeling so uncomfortable in your place. [00:29:39]

CLIENT: I'm wondering if it's connected to why I've been feeling sick all the time. I don't know, like it doesn't really work on a level if we're talking about germ theory and stuff. I guess there would be germs from all the dirty dishes around and stuff, but it's not like I'm touching the dirty dishes and then touching my mouth or something. I might have picked up something from Joshua, but I haven't like, when I stayed back at my place last weekend, I only heard Joshua. I don't think I ever saw Joshua, but then again, I'm touching things that he might have touched.

THERAPIST: But not probably in rapid succession, so you don't really spend much time with him and a lot of stuff doesn't live forever. [00:30:29]

CLIENT: Yeah, so like I don't know -

THERAPIST: But you're stressed out.

CLIENT: I'm stressed out.

THERAPIST: And that decreases your immunity.

CLIENT: Yeah, that would.

THERAPIST: Feeling anxious all the time can actually decrease your ability to resist you know, there's always germs and bacteria and all that floating around, we know that, and most of the time our bodies just fight it off. But if your immune system is suppressed because you're tired or stressed. I know you've been getting lots of sleep, so that kind of debunks the tiredness thing. But there have been lots of times when you've come in, when you've been feeling really anxious, and that connects. So it's possible that you're just a little bit more susceptible than you might be at a time when you feel less stressed. [00:31:18]

CLIENT: Maybe. I just don't know really, what I can do to fix it, other than you know.

THERAPIST: Well, all the self-care stuff helps to buffer it, like getting exercise. Exercise is great for immunity and it helps with your anxiety. When you're going out to eat, trying to make sure that you're making well rounded choices and getting all the vitamins and nutrients you need, like when you pick your veggies and your fruits, that can help buffer some of the effects.

CLIENT: Yeah, but I've found myself not really being able to get exercise.

THERAPIST: When you already feel sick. So you have to take advantage of these days when you feel better.

CLIENT: That's what I've been trying to do. I'm getting out on the weekends and walking for a few hours, but last weekend that didn't happen because I felt really sick.

THERAPIST: Yeah. You can't when you're feeling really sick. It's trying to be preventative.

CLIENT: Yeah, so like that sort of lost the opportunity to be preventative right now. [00:32:19]

THERAPIST: You need to recover from this one and I'm glad to hear you're feeling better today. Stay really hydrated, I think that's important.

CLIENT: I probably could drink more water. I have been drinking water, and I guess it seems less urgent, since it's colder out than it was last week.

THERAPIST: Yeah, so you don't notice it as much, but you still do need to drink a lot, especially if you're dizzy.

CLIENT: Right.

THERAPIST: You don't notice your thirst as much when it's so cold? Yes, you need to increase it when you're sweating a lot from the heat and stuff like that, but people do get dehydrated in the cooler weather because they don't notice thirst in the same way that you do when it's so hot. So if you're feeling dizzy, you can't drink too much water.

CLIENT: Well, you can drink too much water.

THERAPIST: You're not going to.

CLIENT: People die of drinking too much water.

THERAPIST: Very extreme circumstances. You're not going to run into that unless you're trying to imbalance yourself.

CLIENT: That's true. [00:33:19]

THERAPIST: In normal circumstances, nobody gets hurt from drinking water.

CLIENT: I've been trying to drink more water. I actually, like one of the times in the morning, I'd gone to the coffee shop for coffee, but then I also got a bottle of water and then I drank the water in the bottle and then refilled it.

THERAPIST: Good.

CLIENT: I have that sitting in my car, so I can bring it into work on the days that I work and fill it up and keep it in my locker.

THERAPIST: They'll even give you free tap water and a glass.

CLIENT: But the bottle, you can recycle it and stuff. The glass, I do that too sometimes, getting the glass of water, so that way I can drink it when I'm also drinking my caffeinated beverage. I kind of wish I had a permanent locker there.

THERAPIST: You could keep stuff there, it would make it easier.

CLIENT: Yeah, but the lockers are they're there for having your stuff not go into the room. They're not there for like long-term storage of anything. [00:34:30]

THERAPIST: It would make it easier, if you could do it.

CLIENT: It also doesn't help that I can't drink water while I'm at work.

THERAPIST: Yeah, you have to go take breaks.

CLIENT: If you were working in the back room with the computers and not with like actual documents and stuff, you can drink water, but you can't do that.

THERAPIST: So just to be cognizant of taking a break and going and getting a quick drink, especially as you recover from whatever illness this was.

CLIENT: I was trying to do that on Wednesday, when I was at work and being dizzy. It just ultimately didn't help that much.

THERAPIST: It didn't work out.

CLIENT: Before, like on Tuesday, I was also feeling really nauseous and could only really manage eating bread and butter, and not anything else. That part is over at least.

THERAPIST: Yeah, well, I'm glad about that.

CLIENT: At least I can eat proper food.

THERAPIST: It sounds like it was really rough.

CLIENT: I don't know why I got sick but I did and it's just really hard when you're trying to like pull yourself out of it and okay, I wanted to write cover letters and stuff, and that hasn't happened. [00:35:41]

THERAPIST: Yeah.

CLIENT: So, I haven't written a cover letter since a week ago Thursday.

THERAPIST: Let's see if you can take advantage of this afternoon. You've got lots of hours before your rest day.

CLIENT: I'm not a hundred percent better yet.

THERAPIST: But, see what you can do. I'm not asking you to run a marathon, but sit and see if you can get a cover letter out. Take your time with it, do a piece of it at a time, if you need to take a break.

CLIENT: I don't know, maybe I should pay someone professional to look at my resume or something, to see if I like I think my resume is good and I've been reading a lot of stuff on the Internet lately. There's this blog that is really helpful. She has stuff about cover letters and resumes and thinks that instead of having responsibilities, you put accomplishments, which I sort of which really didn't have much like I didn't have to do much to change that in my resume. [00:36:55]

THERAPIST: So maybe it just stands out a little better, kind of highlighting the skills you have and what you've done.

CLIENT: And I added a skills section and took away the section that had my coursework. Of course, I don't even know whether or not the skills section is properly formatted or what way I should be phrasing things for those.

THERAPIST: You might be able to ask people if they've used a service or something. Maybe it would be a worthwhile investment.

CLIENT: Maybe. I don't know how much they -

THERAPIST: They can send referrals.

CLIENT: I don't know how much of it is, I don't have the best resume ever, but how much of it is I don't have the relevant experience that they want and they're wanting people who are more directly qualified, which I think it's more the latter. It's also really hard, getting a job, when I don't really have that many accomplishments. I guess when I finish this, I'll probably be able to say, you know, catalogued this collection in three quarters of the time that they had allotted for it or something, but that's about it. I'm not increasing sales or productivity or anything that benefits anyone financially, other than just all I'm doing is writing these logbooks and it's really hard to -

THERAPIST: Well, finding ways to spin what you're doing, and maybe looking at some resumes. You said you've been looking online to see. You can kind of imagine what they did and how they presented it to be eye-catching. [00:38:38]

CLIENT: Mm-hmm.

THERAPIST: You're not just loving books. There's an important reason why they wanted them logged.

CLIENT: Yeah, but the important reason is so they can get all the weather data and I'm not working on the weather data.

THERAPIST: As part of a...

CLIENT: It's part of that project sure, but it's just so they can have nice descriptive materials, so people can look at the logbooks online and maybe it's like it could in theory, increase traffic to the library, but I haven't seen anyone come and be like hey, I saw those logbooks online and I wanted to look at the real thing. I guess now at least, it turns out the Cheshire Zoo isn't that like. So I guess I could put something about working on that.

THERAPIST: Yeah, that you've worked on that.

CLIENT: I didn't I sort of had a feeling that it might be, but I didn't actually know it until I asked last week and they're like yes, by an order of a hundred times or something. I don't know, maybe my job isn't actually really easy and I just think it is. [00:39:57]

THERAPIST: Yeah, maybe you're just really good at it.

CLIENT: Could be, but it's hard to link, you know, accomplishment, learned how to read really hard handwriting, as a thing that would have a real world application, unless I'm doing more reading of really hard handwriting.

THERAPIST: Well, which isn't crazy in the world of zoos.

CLIENT: Possibly. Not with the online position. I think well, because if it was created online, then you have forms and it's all typed. If I'm doing additional steps -

THERAPIST: If you're creating it online, that's something else, who knows, but you could use that as a skill. Being able to word that as expertise in deciphering written word. It sounds like a usable skill. You don't know exactly when you're going to use it again, but just the difference in that versus I'm really good at reading hard handwriting. The way you phrase it, making it succinct, making it stand out. I'm sure when you look at your resume and you're able to create those bullet points of things like that. [00:41:03]

CLIENT: I don't know how to like I don't know having passing knowledge of nautical history or maritime history I guess, you know, but I'm by no means an expert. I just now know more than your average person about something.

THERAPIST: Absolutely.

CLIENT: That one's not really transferable.

THERAPIST: Unless you rework it, a maritime project.

CLIENT: Which, maybe if I worked at the zoo again, but that's not...

THERAPIST: So this might be where it's useful to talk to somebody who's got expertise in creating resumes, because how to pull out what are the skills that you developed in this particular experience, how to globalize them a little bit, so maybe the information that you learned isn't necessarily transferable, but the fact that you're good at absorbing information is transferable from one place to the other. So, I mean that's something that's beyond the scope of my expertise. I don't have a ton of experience creating resumes, but it might be useful to talk to someone who is, and there are tons of those companies around. I would talk to some people, get a sense of maybe who's reputable, and if it's worth your time or money, to do that. [00:42:28]

CLIENT: I guess I also have to research how much it would cost.

THERAPIST: Yeah, yeah, do a little digging.

CLIENT: And how to figure out who's actually good at this and who's just like eh.

THERAPIST: Right. So you can see if anybody you know from school or if people are chatting about that, that maybe have used something.

CLIENT: At least I have, like people from my school are at least willing to look at my resume and stuff, and some of them are employed now, so I guess I could talk to them.

THERAPIST: Yeah. It's always good to be in contact with them anyway.

CLIENT: I'm actually looking for things now. I could do the whole talking to Adam and Melanie said I should do that, about moving into tech, because if there aren't that many zoo opportunities, I might as well also apply for tech things, if there are things that I'm actually qualified for.

THERAPIST: Broadening the scope. First, get those resumes out for things that are within your scope.

CLIENT: Yeah, but if there's only one job right now, that I looked online and I feel like I can apply to, then if I'm doing the whole three jobs a week, then that would be for two. [00:43:32]

THERAPIST: Start with one, get that out, before you jump up to the three expectation.

CLIENT: I don't think did I ever? Maybe there was one week that I applied to three things.

THERAPIST: So, set the bar where it's reasonable and then we can move from there, but don't set yourself up for something you're not going to be able to achieve. So, let's first get one out this week.

CLIENT: Okay.

THERAPIST: And I will see you not this Tuesday, but where are we, back on Monday? Jumping all around.

CLIENT: And not this coming Monday.

THERAPIST: Not this coming week.

CLIENT: Today, I don't know if you scheduled.

THERAPIST: Did we schedule?

CLIENT: We didn't schedule in August.

THERAPIST: I don't think we did.

CLIENT: We haven't scheduled August.

THERAPIST: So let's do that. Monday, the 5th, at 2:30?

CLIENT: That's fine. So, should we just do like regular August?

THERAPIST: Yeah. So you still want to do because we were kind of doing sort of every other, or three a month. [00:44:33]

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: I can do the 5th at 2:30, the 19th at 2:30, and the 26th at 2:30?

CLIENT: Okay.

THERAPIST: That would be three for August.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: So the 5th, the 19th, and 26th, all at 2:30.

CLIENT: Okay. Thank you for the most recent invoice.

THERAPIST: And I did not have one done up for today. I'll give it to you when we get back in August.

CLIENT: Okay.

THERAPIST: All right.

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