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University of Southern California
USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
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Marvyn

Where Did the Time Go? ⟩
March 20, 2022, by Marvyn

Life Hacks School/Life Balance

And just like that Spring break is over. Have you ever wondered where the time went? It feels so elusive but also always so present. At one point you feel like you have had an abundance of it, but now it feels like I have so little time.

I remember back when I started in the Post-Professional Master’s program last August, my mind was comforted by the fact that I have a lot of time to spend in this program and that I will have so much to learn and experience. But while the latter remains to be true, I feel like I am now running out of time. It feels like I just landed in Los Angeles yesterday but here we are. The one year has already flown by and we are already in the last few stretches before commencement! What is this sorcery??

My first ever visit to USC Chan!

My first ever visit to USC Chan!

Can you find your time back?

All my life I knew time was precious. If you knew me, I have had a love-hate relationship with time. Every time someone asks me, “If you gain a superpower, what would it be?” My response will always be to be able to control time. I find that whenever I feel like I’m chasing after time and making the most out of my experience here at USC, I find myself creating the best memories. You have this sort of pressure to do the best and to feel the best. At least, that’s how I see it personally. Maybe, as you read this, you feel kind of the same way too! But there is also a part of me that wishes I had more time, that I can freeze/rewind and do more. Could I ever find more time?

Look back. Reflecting on your experiences in the past is your own trophy. Whatever you have done and haven’t done, these are the points that you can live by in the present. Personally, I have had the best year of my life being here at USC. I made so many new friends and lifelong connections, and I had the best experiences and memories that I will never trade anything for the world. When I look back at what I have done so far in my time here at USC, I have never been prouder with what I was able to do, and I look forward to what I will be doing in the future.

Making memories with my PP-MA class on our first Friendsgiving!

Making memories with my PP-MA class on our first Friendsgiving! Shoutout to Global Initiatives and everyone else involved!

Living in the present. While it is okay to feel like you’re chasing after time and that you have so much more things you want to do, I’ll use this opportunity to remind myself that I should live in the present experiences and bask in its warmth and joy. I have been so worried about the time I have left and the things I want to do that I forget sometimes to enjoy the things that I currently have! Like everyone says, time is something you never get back. So, while you have it, enjoy it.

Look forward to what’s to come. Now, this might contradict what I have already said but having something to look forward to is a great thing to think about as well. Maybe, in a sense, creating an objective to work towards is beneficial for your time as well! If you think about it, if you have a goal you want to achieve with the “limited” time you have left, it allows you to seize each day with the best memories.

But also, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to pressure anybody to always do something. Sometimes doing nothing and really taking your time is completely fine as well! There is a fine line between healthily pressuring yourself while keeping your sanity in the midst of every choice you have.

This blog post has been, in a way, cathartic for me because of the current pressure I am feeling with the limited amount of time I have left here in my program. I am comforted by the fact that I have reflected upon my experiences and came up with the three points I mentioned. If you are feeling almost the same way as I have, I hope this helps you too.

Kayla

Kayla’s Declassified Spring Survival Guide ⟩
March 8, 2022, by Kayla

Life Hacks

Let’s set the tone for this blog. Ready? Close your eyes, picture a perfectly sunny Southern California day, a beautifully organized planner with all of your assignments for the month, a nice cold iced coffee, and a feeling of finally settling into your routine for the semester. Blissful, right? But then you remember, you’re still looking for an external residency site. I don’t know, maybe I was alone in feeling continual stress in the background surrounding finding an external residency during spring semester (but something tells me I probably wasn’t). And something else tells me that you all might be feeling something similar if you are at this point in your journey towards the PP-OTD program.

Luckily, I’ve already been through it so I can share with you some of the things that I learned while reaching out to possible external sites! Tip One: I cannot stress enough is to take the time to sit down and REALLY have a heart-to-heart with yourself and decide what you want out of your residency experience. One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give is to find a residency that speaks to your why. It makes all of the difference when you are reaching out to sites. Not only can they ~feel~ the difference if you are walking in your truth, but I think it will give you more of a confidence boost and help you fall into the right situation! If you seek to find a residency that speaks to your why, I promise, it is so much easier to portray your passion and ultimately, what you will bring to that site as a resident!

Tip Two: Hearing “no”, is okay! In fact, the words “no”, “thank you, however”, and “unfortunately” shaped my spring and summer of 2021. While it was definitely not fun to hear at the time, each time an opportunity didn’t work out, it was just another chance for me to reframe, refine, and re-try! Self-reflection was HUGE for me at this time. I was always thinking about how to make myself stand out as a candidate and refine my elevator speech (oh, the infamous elevator speech) about the PP-OTD program even more compelling and intriguing to potential residency sites.

Segueing into tip three . . . . This is a process of finding an external residency site. I chose those words intentionally, it is a process. For some, it may be quick, for others it may require a little bit more time, but enjoy the process! Enjoy YOUR process.

This last tip, I cannot stress enough. Use your resources! Former residents, program faculty, *cough, cough* yours truly, and literally anything else you can think of. If you have to complete an interview, set up a mock interview. If you have to write personal statements, have your peers and a trusted faculty member look them over and give you feedback. While these opportunities may seem scary or seem like more work at the time, they truly help make us better in the long run. I think this would be a great place to share some wise words from a mentor, “No one has ever been too prepared.”

So, now let’s go back to that scene we set at the beginning. Picture that perfectly sunny Southern California day, your perfect planner, that pristine iced coffee, and that feeling of peace after finally settling into your routine for the semester. But this time, imagine yourself with a feeling of confidence replacing that stress about finding an external residency. Confidence in yourself and confidence in your plan; you’ve got this!

Teresa

My Enemies Are After Me ⟩
March 2, 2022, by Teresa

Admissions Classes Fieldwork

Recently, I watched the stuff on Netflix about fraudsters and all I could think was “Wow, what I wouldn’t give to have their confidence.” Not to get anyone to send me $50,000, but because sometimes, it does feel like my enemies are after me . . . and by ‘my enemies,’ I mean the little voice in my head otherwise known as the “imposter.”

I felt like the biggest imposter ever when I was applying to OT school and when I started this program. If I had to rate my imposter syndrome on a scale of 0 (none) to 10 (worst) around this time, I’d put it at a 10. It was exacerbated both by being waitlisted and being fully remote. As I read the student ambassadors’ blogs, started meeting my classmates on Zoom, and learned from our amazing professors, I was simultaneously romanticizing this image of them in my head – that everyone else was so incredible and had it all figured out while I knew I always felt lost. I’d say I felt this way intermittently throughout my entire first year in the program.

In the past year, it’s resolved a lot. After 12 weeks of level 2 fieldwork, I felt my confidence increase as my competency in skills grew. Once we fully returned to campus last semester, I was comforted by hushed whispers from my peers who shared my confusion during classes. And then came two pivotal experiences this semester which mitigated my imposter syndrome significantly:

  1. An esteemed faculty member spoke to our class and shared that she still experiences imposter syndrome. That was just mind-blowing to me. There . . . was simply . . . no way? Not with all her achievements, success, and publications. Anyways, in OT, we love evidence-based practice, right? This individual urged us to search in our own history for evidence that we are indeed imposters in order to support the voice telling us we’re not good enough, don’t belong, or not ready for something. Here’s the punch line — you won’t find anything. You’re here at USC, doing the thing you set out to do, against all odds that might have stood in your way. The evidence speaks for itself.
  2. I heard this advice when I needed it most because it came at a time when I felt like other people were doing the romanticizing thing to me which I had been guilty of doing to others in the past. I had never seen myself as someone worthy enough to be looked up to, so to be placed in those situations felt . . . weird. Anyone who knows me knows that words of affirmation make me uncomfortable, which is something I am actively working on receiving better because it’s not me rejecting kind words, it’s the imposter. I want to see myself the way others see I have the potential to be, not in the distorted way the imposter tries to convince me of.

Going back to the baseline established at the start of this blog (which – you guessed it – we LOVE in OT), I’d say I now teeter around maybe 2 or 3. I entered “imposter” into the search bar on our website out of curiosity to see how I should frame this blog post and it returned ten blog hits from ambassadors past and present. They each approach it from a different perspective, which shows how pervasive imposter syndrome can be when you find yourself in a new or different environment that you’re not used to. But I think this also means you’re putting yourself in situations that challenge you to learn things you didn’t know before, experience growth throughout your life, and continue to prove people wrong, including that imposter telling you you’re a fraud. Sometimes, I hope I never rate my imposter syndrome at a 0 out of fear that it will indicate I’ve reached a threshold in my learning. Anyways, what I’m trying to say is you aren’t alone in this feeling. It can be difficult, but try not to compare yourself and your journey to others because we are only able to see what they choose to present to the world. Just give it some time. Both your confidence and competence will increase and with that, maybe you’ll learn to befriend your ‘enemies.’

A spicy podcast from the land of spices! ⟩
March 1, 2022, by Global Initiatives Team

Diversity International

By Prutha Satpute, OTD USC alumni; Cohost and editor of HOTP
By Sakshi Tickoo, BOTh, Personal Counselor; Cohost and PR head of HOTP
By Varada Pisharody, MsOT, OTR/L; Cohost and CEO of HOTP

Editors Brittany Inouye and Abraham Ramirez
Entry-Level Professional Master’s students

Screenshot from film The Hangover

Who are we?
We’re the three best friends
that anybody could have
We’re the three best friends
that anybody could have
And we’ll never ever ever ever
leave each other!

We are three OTs from India, who are at different phases in our (professional) lives, with three completely different personalities, living in 3 different time zones (east coast, west coast, and India). Regardless of these differences we have one thing in common — our love for each other and what we do.

Photo portraits of the podcast team

We decked up for a long-distance photoshoot for the launch of the podcast. For more details on who we are check out our website: hornotplease.com

What do we do?
Well, throughout our Bachelor degree years we found ourselves within the grasp of knowing what OT was but never really being able to pinpoint how the core values and fundamentals of our profession related to the everyday lives of people. At the same time, when we would watch Netflix shows or social media trends, we would find these amazing links back to the things we were learning in our textbooks about environmental context and human behavior. The more evidence we found of such links, the more we felt the need to create a platform that would appeal to the minds of OTs who were tired of their mid 20th century Western world-view textbooks. So, in June 2021, we founded Horn OT Please — a student friendly podcast that uses Occupational Science as its backbone to understand OT practices, values, and principles with the help of modern-day educational perspectives. Horn OT Please ended up being the first ever Indian OT podcast available on all listener platforms; this was not only special but it added to the sense of value and responsibility for the work we are doing. So, every week despite our busy schedules and unkind time zone differences (I complain because I wake up at 7am on a Saturday!) we hop on Zoom to study, research, and record our sessions. We try to cover a wide range of topics like:

  • Student life
    • Ups-downs, perks-disappointments, joys, and wonders of being an OT
    • What is OT education like in India and other countries?
  • OT Education
    • Reforms in OT books and teaching methods
    • OT soft skills
    • Prepping for the big scary world
  • OT Practice
    • Non-traditional settings, areas of practice, and interventions
    • Personal anecdotes

How do we do it?
Simply reading words on paper did not challenge us to think critically in a client-specific scenario. On the other hand, watching the Oscar winning movie ‘The Father’ gave a visual, auditory, cognitive, mental, and emotional character to the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s, making it more real and relatable. We are constantly in search of narratives and stories fictional/non-fictional that can act as a medium for learning and understanding OT concepts. We use scientific manuscripts, journal articles, movies, documentaries, history, art, trends on Instagram, TikTok, and other non-traditional media to blur the line between academic and non-academic learning materials.

Horn OT Please logo

Check out our podcast episodes on Anchor or Spotify.

Why do we do it?
Because we can. For a long time we waited for OT professionals who could answer our questions and make sense of our fanatical ideas. As the three of us have started diverging into different practice areas and settings, our inquisitiveness has only led to more questions that remain unanswered. Horn OT Please is our safe haven. And we hope that it becomes a space where disparate worlds of thought can come together; challenging OTs globally to think outside the box, and further advance our profession.

If you have any questions or would like to know more you can reach us through our socials — email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Instagram: @hornotplease, website: hornotplease.com.

Seth

Welcome to the Trojan Family! But first, maybe Trojan Friendship? ⟩
February 28, 2022, by Seth

Getting Involved

I have, once again, been thinking about the future and as we all prepare to transition into new chapters, my mind keeps coming back to one part of the experience: making friends.

Much like everything else in life, graduate school is a rollercoaster of experience! There are peaks and valleys, and while you’re slowly ticking your way to the top or racing down the hill, it can be hard to remember there are other people on the ride too. It can be a lonely experience, after all. You may be moving across the country, your friends may now be employed full-time, and said plainly adult relationships can be hard! I have been a graduate student for two years now and I still feel these things sometimes. I’m sure these feelings will continue as I move into my next chapter too, but there are ways that we can put ourselves out there and meet other people! I’ve compiled a list of strategies that I have been tinkering with lately and I hope that in advance of your transition, whatever and wherever it may be, something sticks. The one thing they do have in common, however, is putting yourself out there. The frameworks in place are just that, foundations, and it is up to you to build them up!

Schedule and Protect Your Time
I want to start off with some sage advice my lifestyle redesign course received from Dr. Camille Dieterle this semester. She encouraged us to look at our calendars and see when we were having fun versus our responsibilities. It is so obvious that you never think twice about it before someone points it out. Suddenly, it was like a lightbulb had turned on, “Of course I’m lonely! I go to class, I go to work, I go to sleep and repeat.” Where in that mix am I living my twenties? You may be tempted to acknowledge this and commit to making a change, but you must remember that whatever you schedule for you, make sure to protect it! If you’re going to a museum on Friday, don’t agree to a meeting at that same time. I am two weeks out from living this advice and I have already done more things with my friends within that time than I have all last semester.

Take Advantage of the Structures in Place
This suggestion covers a lot of ground. This could mean joining the social media groups for your academic class, a club meeting, a post-final get-together, or it could be a university-wide event; the campus is your oyster! All of these avenues contain a safety net if you’re finding yourself flying solo. What I mean by this is if you are nervous about showing up alone or you’re more of a wallflower, you’ll always have something to start a conversation about: USC! We often laugh at orientation-style ice breakers, but they exist for a reason. My advice is to start with a compliment (“I love your overalls”), introduce yourself (“I’m Seth, it’s nice to meet you!”), and roll right into the “What’s your major?” conversation (“I’m studying occupational therapy, let me explain what that means . . .” (IYKYK). Did I use this exact conversation just this weekend? Yes. Did I walk away with four new friend phone numbers? Yes! All I have to say is if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Find Your People
I’m not just talking about those with similar hobbies or people you just *vibe* with; I’m talking about dropping your hairpins and stopping the code-switching, I’m talking about finding your People with a capital “P”. I highly encourage you to seek out your cultural student organizations and your communities beyond the campus boundaries. Find the people who lift the weight of your shoulders and nourish your soul in a way that only people who get it, and get you can. They’re out there, I promise!

Keep Your Roots
It may go without saying, but I think it is important to reiterate. You still have all of the friendships you had before graduate school! They may look a little different, but that doesn’t mean they are gone. Don’t be afraid to schedule a weekly check-in phone call or a tri-monthly zoom call (and make sure to protect it!). Keep sending each other those memes, let them crash on your couch when they’re in town, and visit them when you go home. Whatever your transition may bring, know that you’ll still have someone to turn to and that you’ll navigate it together.

After all of these tips I do want to add a caveat: I’m not saying you have to make the bestest of friends. Graduate school may feel long in the moment, but it goes by in the blink of an eye. Do not feel pressured to walk away from the experience with the friendship equivalent of a soulmate (If you do, I love that for you). What I am saying, though, is that it helps to have a shoulder to lean on and someone to celebrate with. It helps to have a friend, no adjective is needed. With that said, to those entering the E-OTD next year, to our incoming BS-OTD students, and to anyone who is going through a transition soon, welcome to the Trojan Friendship and thank you for being a friend.

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