Aloha (Unmet) Goals!

February 13, 2014
by Clarissa

School/Life Balance

We talk a lot in OT about the importance of maintaining a balance between work, rest, and play. All y’all know from my blogs that I’m very busy — I’m a student ambassador, the social chair of the Occupational Therapy and Science Council, and I’m on the Student Run Clinic board. I love all my activities and wouldn’t take back my involvement with them for anything. I do tend to neglect restorative occupations, though. Sensing this imbalance, I wrote a paper for my Health Promotion and Wellness class where I set goals to incorporate more restorative occupations in my life.

I think it’s safe to say that I did NOT meet my goals over winter break! It’s so true what my professors say — habit change is difficult and takes time. It sounds like common sense but I didn’t realize exactly how hard it is until I tried it myself =(. This gives me perspective on how my future clients will experience habit change.

I went to Hawaii over winter break, which was supposed to include a lot of laying around on the beach but, according to my friends, I am “incapable of chill time.” It is so true. I really did try to relax but there were just too many cool things to do! I went scuba diving for a whole day, I did a lot of snorkeling, went cage diving with sharks, and did 3 hikes — Diamond Head, Kokohead, and the Haiku Stairs. I actually had to wake up at 2:30AM to hike the Haiku Stairs! Yup, there definitely weren’t any restorative occupations going on there.

So I didn’t exactly relax in Hawaii but it was still awesome =). Here’s a picture taken when descending the Haiku Stairs. Speaking of non-restorative activities, I also went on an OT trip to Vegas (I have a problem — I really just can’t stop being active). Cliff hanger for a future blog post soon!

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