Student Blog
Alix
Procrastination . . . I Mean Occupation! ⟩
September 30, 2011, by Alix
Life Hacks School/Life Balance
I’m pretty busy this semester, so when distractions come up throughout the week, I ignore them. For about five minutes. Then I move through stage two of the procrastination phase, mostly involving profound guilt, shame, and self-beratement. Finally, I give in. For example, I am in the middle of planning my wedding. As some of you probably know, a person could literally fill 60 hours a week with wedding planning. There are always details to iron out, vendors to contact, and logistics to agonize over. (Especially since our wedding is taking place in a field, under a tree, with no infrastructure or electrical outlets.) Plus, the internet contains a seeminly endless supply of wedding blogs, all filled with pictures of perfectly executed events and reasons that you should be panicking about yours. And this is in addition to the wedding magazines that arrive practically daily at my front door. I find myself wondering what kind of dessert to serve, and then spending three hours “researching” the (very complex and elusive) answer. But then the other day I had a brilliant realization: Maybe this isn’t procrastination. Maybe it’s an occupation! Maybe planning my wedding is one of my leisure occupations! And being in OT school, I of all people should know that health requires a balance of work, rest, and leisure. So, in reality, I should be proud of myself. Right?
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Storytelling in OT ⟩
September 22, 2011, by Alix
This past week, I attended a fantastic seminar on the power of storytelling and deep listening in healthcare settings. I had the privilege of meeting a number of other healthcare professionals and students, including doctors, nurses, psychologists, massage therapists, physical therapists, and even a hospice chaplain. (I became very adept at defining OT!) We learned about a technique called “joint construction of narrative,” which involves listening to the patient and helping him/her to weave a story out of his/her life and illness experience. Then, we learned about the importance of “mirroring” the patient’s story, reflecting it back truthfully rather than trying to “fix” the problems. (This is harder than it sounds!)
As a former English major, I love a good story, and one of the things I like most about OT is the opportunity to hear compelling life stories from clients. Because we aren’t saddled with the same time constraints as many other healthcare professionals, we can settle in and enjoy the rich process of listening to the people we work with. I think a lot of people, especially in underserved populations, don’t have many opportunities to tell their story in a nurturing, supportive environment. So it seems like we have a responsibility to provide that environment whenever we can with OT. Anyway, off my soapbox now! 😊 Bottom line: I’m excited to be able to take storytelling from my undergrad English days all the way into a new career in OT.
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Main Campus is Officially Awesome ⟩
September 13, 2011, by Alix
I just started the second half of the OT program here at USC, and this year I’m taking three of my classes on the main campus. Amazingly, I had never been to the main campus before this week (I know, it’s terrible) because all my classes were on the health sciences campus last year. So, why didn’t anybody tell me how awesome the main campus was? I love the health sciences campus and everything, but it really doesn’t compare. The trees and sculptures are beautiful, there are fountains everywhere, and I love the bustling energy and all the happy undergrads riding around on their beach cruisers.
Another great fact about the main campus: I started teaching free outdoor yoga there this week in Alumni Park underneath the trees. The OT Faculty Practice is sponsoring free yoga classes on both campuses all semester long, and I’ll be teaching every Tuesday at 9AM. Before I found out about OT, I wanted to become a yoga therapist, so I’m happy to be teaching other students and thinking more about how I can use yoga in my practice as an OT. It’s also just nice to spend time outdoors in the morning while the campus is still quiet and peaceful.
In light of the unexpected awesomeness of the main campus, I decided I’m finally going to come out for a tailgate. (Usually it’s virtually impossible to drag me out of Santa Monica on the weekend.) Stay tuned for the full report on tailgating. I’ll make sure to take good notes. 😉
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