Staying motivated

I have always prided myself on my ability to work hard and achieve results. In school, university, and in my job, I pushed myself to do well and was rewarded with excellent marks, recognition, pay rises. But I have realised now that, that’s easy. Do you know what’s really difficult? To work hard, and not get results. No feedback, no recognition. But to keep going, to keep putting in maximum effort, whilst getting almost nothing back.
When I started Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) with Henry, I was so motivated. I plastered reminders all over the house and tried to incorporate the activities into every waking moment. However as time went on, Henry didn’t respond like he was supposed to, and I felt like I was stuck on the first lesson over and over again, waiting for a response so we could progress. I know now it’s because his hearing is far worse than originally diagnosed and his hearing level is just above my speech level. At least I know that he is not just slow. However now I feel in limbo. I know that I need to keep working with him, keep the auditory pathways open, keep teaching him about sound. But it’s tempting to just wait until he gets the implants and gets ‘switched on’.
My therapist, Melissa, encourages me to keep going, to at least get myself in practice, so that when he does have his implants, I am already doing many of the things I need to do, by habit. She reminds me that although he is not going to hear all, or even most, of what I am saying, at least he may get some sound, some benefit from what I am doing.
And I know this is true, so I sing songs and read books and talk and talk and talk. I don’t think he hears any of it, but there is a chance. And for this chance, I keep going.