one day chickens, next day FEATHERS
Have you heard this saying?
“One day chicken, next day feathers.”
It’s the reply that one of my patients nearly always gives me in response to “how’s the day?” Now, if he doesn’t say it, I’ll ask, “is it a chicken day or a feathers day?”
You might instantly manage to get the gist. But when he first said it, I had to ask what he meant by it.
“You know, one day you’re the chicken. Next day, all feathers,” he explains. One day a healthy bird. The next day all is lost and you’re just a pile of feathers, without any substance left. Ups and downs.
He came in recently and had experienced one too many feathers day in a row, for about a month. He always laughs when I use his phrase back at him to explain his situation.
And now, I too often consider my days this way. The last week was way more feathers….just sadness for some of my patients. Their frankness in their sharing of their upbringing leaves me feeling a little like a pile of feathers on concrete. The chicken here is this. While he’s a lifer, he’s making good efforts to mentor those like himself when he was 20 years younger.
Or the patient that has a terminal (within months) neurological diagnosis. His mental capacity is full right now, while his body is losing it’s capacity. It’s hard enough to have this diagnosis on the outside. The sadness and grief it brings living on the inside is almost insurmountable. He’s not a lifer so it wasn’t his fate to die in prison, but it might be the case. Definitely a feathers day talking about death and dying with him.
So next time someone asks you, “how’s the day?” You can reply, instead of “fine” or “up and down,” one day chickens, next day feathers.” An all new perspective.
Would love to hear if you are already familiar with this phrase.
*just to note, I’ll be leaving out the name of the institution that I work at. It’s a state prison for reference. Images are not from the prison as no devices are allowed in.
Prison PT 
Leave a comment