Don't Sweat It

"You looked like you weren't even sweating it!" my boss told me this week.

I was conducting a diagnostic assessment for the first time. We had been training on it for months, and the time had finally come when the appointments we had booked started showing up. For obvious confidentiality reasons, I can't say much about this appointment, but it was with a human who was adorable, fun, and an absolute joy.

And oh wow was I definitely "sweating it." I've built my career on assessing and treating humans, but those have been academic or functional assessments, leading to living documents (of which I was often in control) to guide treatment. This was diagnostic. It was going to a doctor and would be going in this person's medical records. It determines what services they're able to receive and whether or not they'll have to pay out the nose for treatment. That assessment was likely the first and last time I'll ever see this person. It is A LOT more pressure than I'm used to. I did not sleep well the night before.

It's amazing what happens when you're fluent in a behavior, though. The assessment is a guided framework of social interactions. Some parts are scripted, a lot of it is improvised play and conversation. I had the test book to guide the framework and script, and my own skills to guide the rest: Listening, watching responding, making offers, waiting, pushing in and backing off when necessary. I put that smile on my face (with my see-through mask on) and the thought in my head that I've used with my teammates hundreds of times in the past; the one that says "While we're working together, you're the most important person in the world." The time flew by, and before I knew it, I was giving them an explosive fist-bump "good-bye."

Sometimes we are asked to do new things, scary things, important things. It's ok to be nervous. But rarely is anything completely new to us, especially if we're asked to do it by someone we trust. We may have to lean in to the skills we do know to help us get through what we don't. Take a breath, check your fluent-skill bungee cord, and take the leap.

You got this.

Don't sweat it.