S1E4 - How Can I Possibly Ask For Help?

Read transcriptEpisode Notes Get What You Need and Feel Good About It Episode 4: How Can I Possibly Ask for Help?: Determine To Ask For a Little Help From Your Friends! Meet Chris Cooke: As a life-long learner, Chris Cooke has embarked on three distinct career paths, musician, doctor and rehabilitation instructor. This seemingly unrelated trio is united by her passion for teaching and encouraging her students to use their skills to reach their goals. As a totally blind teacher, she taught students piano, flute, and other band instruments in both the classroom and private studio settings. Cheering each student on while they learned her beloved musical craft was a joy for 15 years. When health problems of her own caused her to research healing options, she found life-changing benefits from naturopathic medicine. As the first blind naturopathic doctor, Chris graduated from the National University of Natural Medicine in 2006. In private practice, her favorite patients were children who experience significant behavioral issues. As doctor/teacher, Chris extended hope and compassion to families through teaching and recommending natural therapies. When Chris needed to make another life-change, she put her Braille-reading and technology skills to work and entered the full-time position of Rehabilitation Instructor where she remains with the Oregon Commission for the Blind. Taking each student as an individual, she seeks to help adult learners overcome barriers to realize their goals through literacy and technology. When not working, she enjoys listening to podcasts, reading, knitting, and spending time with her two cats and guide dog. Chris submitted this poetic biography. It speaks to her thoughts, her heart, and her process of Personal growth: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Chris says This is a piece she wrote that really captures what she was thinking five-and-a-half years ago as she thought about two careers, music and medicine. It’s called the Duet of Grit and Grace and does involve asking for help. The Duet of Grit and Grace The duet of grit and grace sing together to create a life song. The grit to problem-solve is smoothed by the grace to accept help. There is the ever-present Grit to do the uncommon and the grace to find joy in simple pleasures. There is a counterpoint between music and medicine--a life-long passion for music and the desire to pursue a medical career. Can there be a marriage between two diverse deeply-felt callings? Can the first blind naturopathic physician restart a career after And intermission of four years to help young children who are the beacon of the future? Yet, if medicine crescendos, can you hear the musician composing and arranging hymns that are the song of her heart? In the same life there is one song that sings to uplift the composer and the listener, to bring healing to heart and soul--to all who listen. Check out Chris Cooke’s Website: https://playhymns.com Oregon Commission for the Blind Resources https://www.oregon.gov/blind/livingwithvisionloss/Pages/Brochures_Resources.aspx (Chris publishes online sheet music, has some accompaniment tracks, and demo recordings.) Oregon Commission for the Blind Resources: https://www.oregon.gov/blind/livingwithvisionloss/Pages/Brochures_Resources.aspx Interview Questions for Chris Cooke: If you’re comfortable, would you tell us a little about when and how you and I met and where you were then on your personal journey? What you were experiencing then was following your path toward independence, and adulting as a young woman who has specific dreams and goals who also happens to have a visual impairment, I know your journey has been challenging at times. What helps you stay the course? How do you determine to keep taking the steps forward? how did you handle overcoming obstacles that arose as you entered the naturopathic college and educated your educators about your abilities and thinking outside the box regarding overcoming their concerns about perceived barriers to performing clinical work? I have a feeling this process also involved asking for collaboration, which is another way to look at asking for help. What do you think asking for help looks like? How can we reframe our thoughts about asking for help and experience the benefits of support as we accomplish our goals or dreams? What are you doing now and how is your journey continuing? How are you using these same life skills now? Mention work and something fun like your sheet music. What advice would you give students about advocating for themselves? It occurs to me that these ideas can apply to anyone who is determined to realize a dream. How do these strategies transfer to good work ethics and life skills? Thanks so much for joining us. Order a copy of Darian’s book in paperback or on Kindle: Speak Up for Yourself: Get What You Need and Feel Good About It: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Speak+Up+For+Yourself%3A+Get+What+You+Need+and+Feel+Good+About+It&i=stripbooks&crid=1TGVTFEBCG839&sprefix=speak+up+for+yourself+get+what+you+need+and+feel+good+about+it%2Cstripbooks%2C164&ref=nb_sb_noss To learn more about Darian Slayton Fleming go to: https://dsflemingcc.com Find out more at https://get-what-you-need-and-feel-goo.pinecast.co