The Confidence Episode: What They Don't Tell You In OT School

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1. Open the view-only document.
2. Go to the top menu and click File → Make a copy.
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Pelvic OTPs United - Lindsey's off-line interactive community for $39 a month!
Inside Pelvic OTPs United you'll find:​

• Weekly group mentoring calls with Lindsey. She's doing this exclusively inside this community. These aren't your boring old Zoom calls where she is a talking head. We interact, we coach, we learn from each other.
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• Highly curated forums. The worst is when you post a question on FB just to have it drowned out with 10 other questions that follow it. So, she's got dedicated forums on different populations, different diagnosis, different topics (including business). Hop it, post your specific question, and get the expert advice you need.

More info here. Lindsey would love support you in this quiet corner off social media!

Transcript

Lindsey: Hello friends and welcome back to the OTs and Pelvic Health podcast. This is the space where we talk all things pelvic health, purpose-driven practice, and how to show up boldly in a field that most of the world still doesn't quite understand. Today's episode is a little bit different.

It's part pep talk, part mindset reset, and 100% inspired by a conversation I heard recently between Mel Robbins and Emma Greed. If you haven't heard that episode, it's called, if you only listen to one podcast today, make it this one. And honestly, they weren't kidding.

It literally shook something loose in me and I thought, this is the message we need in pelvic health right now. So if you're feeling stuck, if you're doubting yourself, and if imposter syndrome is creeping in, this one's for you. Let's go.

New and seasoned OTs are finding their calling in pelvic health. After all, what's more ADL than sex, peeing, and poop? But here's the question. What does it take to become a successful, fulfilled, and thriving OT in pelvic health? How do you go from beginner to seasoned and everything in between? Those are the questions and this podcast will give you the answers.

We are inspired OTs. We are out of the box OTs. We are pelvic health OTs.

I'm your host, Lindsey Vestal, and welcome to the OTs in Pelvic Health Podcast. 

You were on a journey, not a timeline. All right. So in listening to the Mel Robbins and Emma Greed episode, Emma said something that stopped me in my tracks. And that was, you were on a journey. It doesn't just happen.

And I thought, how many of us OTs step into pelvic health thinking we need to have it all figured out from day one? We think, I didn't do a residency, or I don't have a pelvic health certification yet, or I'm not as confident as fill in the blank is on Instagram. And suddenly we feel like we don't belong, like we're behind. But let me remind you of something.

Your journey is allowed to be messy, non-linear, and uniquely yours. Success in this work, I mean, honestly, success in this calling is not overnight. It's built in layers.

It's built in the moments where you walk into a session, unsure, but still give your best. It's built in the hours you spend learning, reflecting, and showing up anyway. Emma shared that for a long time, and she's an extremely successful entrepreneur.

She shared that for a long time, she thought the world owed her something, that she deserved success just for wanting it. And I see this mindset sneak into our field, too. Not in entitlement, but honestly, in self-doubt disguised as waiting.

We think, once I feel confident, then I'll start. But honestly, confidence doesn't come before the action. It comes because of it.

Confidence is built when you finish your first evaluation and say, all right, that was really hard, but I did it. It's built when you have that awkward conversation with the physician about what pelvic floor therapy is. It's built when you advocate for your role, even when your own voice is shaking.

You don't wait for confidence. You work for it. Mel Robbins said something that I'll never forget.

And that is perfectionism is focused on the outside. Excellence is focused on the inside. Take a moment and let that sink in.

Perfectionism is focused on the outside, and excellence is focused on the inside. Now, perfectionism, honestly, I've struggled with that word most of my life because I've thought of myself as a perfectionist. And then I very quickly wanted to kind of separate myself from that term because I thought of it in a very negative way.

I think because I found out that in my own life, perfectionism is rooted in fear. Fear of judgment, of failure, of not being quote unquote enough. And OTs and pelvic health, honestly, we're perfectionists by nature.

We want to do it all right. We want to be taken seriously in a space that's already misunderstood. But excellence, excellence is about effort.

It's about showing up with integrity, being proud of your progress and taking pride in the smallest things, right? It's how you document. It's how you greet your clients. It's how you show compassion to someone sharing their most vulnerable symptoms.

Excellence is honestly how you fold the towel or the chuck pad. It's how you explain the pelvic floor. It's how you check in to yourself after a tough session.

And when you bring excellence to the little things, everything changes. Emma said in the podcast, if you don't know what you should pursue, pursue yourself. I was taken back by this as well.

And if you're also listening to this episode and thinking, I don't even know if I want to keep doing pelvic health or if I'm not sure that I'm cut out for this, let me invite you to pause and ask, are you taking care of yourself? Are you giving yourself the same compassion and patience that you give your clients? Are you staying curious about what lights you up? Sometimes the path becomes clear only after you start walking it. So instead of waiting for purpose to inadvertently fall in your lap, focus on becoming the best version of yourself. And that will lead you because when you grow, your path grows with you.

One of the most powerful takeaways from this episode was this. Everything you want is on the other side of doing, not thinking. So many OTs that I talked to both inside my off social media membership called Pelvic OTPs United, which by the way, we'd love for you to join us.

It's only $39 a month. The link is in the show notes. They are waiting for the perfect mentor, waiting for the perfect course, waiting to feel ready.

But what if we stopped waiting and just started? What if you've sent that email to the urologist? What if you started that support group for pelvic pain clients? What if you finally offered the workshop you've been dreaming of? Momentum doesn't come from thinking. It comes from doing. So whatever project you want to pursue, take the next right step, even if it's small, actually, especially if it's small.

So if no one has told you this lately, let me be the one to tell you, you are exactly where you're supposed to be. You are not behind. You are not an imposter.

You are becoming. So chin up, shoulders back and keep going because what you do matters because you matter. Thank you so much for being here today.

I hope this episode lit a fire in you like it did in me. And if you did, I would love for you to share it with a fellow OT who needs to hear it. You helping me spread the word about how much we excel and belong in this field means the world to me.

So until next time, keep showing up with heart, excellence, and the belief that the best is yet to come. Now, I've created a worksheet inspired by today's episode to help you clarify your next best step and define what excellence looks like for you in your practice. Go to the show notes and grab the worksheet and get started.

Thanks for listening to another episode of OTs and Pelvic Health. If you haven't already, hop onto Facebook and join my group, OTs for Pelvic Health, where we have thousands of OTs at all stages of their pelvic health career journey. This is such an incredibly supportive community where I go live each and every week. If you love this episode, please take a screenshot of this episode on your phone and post it to IG, Facebook, wherever you post your stuff, and be sure to tag me and let me know why you like this episode. This will help me to create in the future what you want to hear more of. Thanks again for listening to the OTs and Pelvic Health podcast.