10 Items on Our Summer Bucket List

Ah, summer. Some of us are still working, some of us are working less (me) and some of us get the summers off of working completely (Sarie - mostly - but she'll work very part time in home health this month).

Here’s the thing – summer is short. If you don’t grab it by the you-know-what, it’ll pass by before you know it. So, Sarie and I are creating a summer bucket list and inviting you in on the challenge. Feel free to steal some of ours or create your own.

Here's our list, plus a score card where we get really honest about whether or not we've met our goals.

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5 Essentials for your SLP Podcast

We started our SLP podcast in early January. Since then, I've seen at least a dozen more SLP podcasts start up.

It's no wonder - having an SLP podcast is a great way to get your message out there. As SLPs, we can often be isolated, and podcasts instill a sense of community. As SLPs, we love to have good, high-quality conversations - and podcasts facilitate those as well.

But knowing where to start can be daunting. If you are just getting started (or you are already started but are just beginning to invest in equipment), this is the place for you to start.

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Passion and Work

When did a job stop being a job? When did we decide a job should be our passion? Our life's work? Our reason for living?

When I started in this profession, I did consider When it comes to our field, being an SLP isn't my reason for living. I've got some other really great reasons for that, but articulation therapy isn't one of them. Neither is doing paperwork. Is my job satisfying? Absolutely. Is it my passion? No.

Wait, what? Don’t I get to help people every day? Isn’t this the US News and World Report’s best job ever created since medieval times?* Shouldn’t I be following around my passion like an energetic puppy dog at every moment? Shouldn't I turn my paycheck back into my bosses and say "uh, no. Thank you for the pleasure of doing this work! No payment required!" and skip out into the horizon (towards the setting sun or the rainbow)?

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The Surprising Truth about Your Dream Day Job

What would your dream day job look like? Coffee shop delivery? Catered lunches? A speech room with windows that open? Coworkers that get you? An office of your own with a small caseload?

For me, it would be a job with my own office, friendly coworkers and a supportive boss. Of course, I wouldn't turn down a coffee delivery, too. :)

Day Job? Why not just a job? Or a burning passion?

A word on the term "day job." Like many of you reading this, I have hobbies, passions, friends and family, side gigs and an up-and-coming side hustle. My day job pays the bills. I don't expect it to meet my every need. I think it's an important classification at a time where people talk about being an SLP as being their calling and passion. I call that dangerous, and that kind of thinking gets us teetering on the edge of burnout and overwork. If our job is our reason for living, we'll find all sorts of excuses to spend more time at work and less time doing life, which is what really matters. Maybe we don't need a hard separation there. But, please. Don't think you were created and put on this earth to be a speech-language pathologist. The stakes are too high, and the mighty will fall with today's caseload sizes and work requirements. Being an SLP is something you do. Being an SLP is not your identity.

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