Happiest Place On Earth

September 17, 2012
by Paula

School/Life Balance

As you may have heard, the second year Master’s students have suddenly been made aware of a lack of balance in our day-to-day experiences after an exercise in our Health Promotion and Wellness class. I’m sure you all are quite familiar with that feeling of readjustment to a routine and the effort involved in finding the healthy balance between work, rest and play. The stresses of life as a student, a worker, a family member, a friend, etc. can begin to feel heavy but it is so important to remember that each of these components does have a positive effect on your wellness and your person, it just may need a bit of tweaking to get the mix that works for you.

I was feeling as though I was completely out of balance after last week. What else to do but to go to Disneyland?

Two of my close friends were visiting for a birthday so we took advantage of the 105 degree heat and went to add some happiness to our lives. We had all previously been stressed over deadlines, projects and papers but a 14 hour day of theatrics and roller coasters was just the thing we all needed to take a step back and relax a bit (or at least put our stress on hold for the day). Sometime in the day when we were seeking out some shade for a rest, I realized that my perspective has changed since I began the program here at USC. I was intrigued by my heightened awareness of accessibility (or in this case, a lack of) to attractions and shops. I found myself noting whether the environment was restrictive to any individual and if so, how it could be changed.

Maybe Disneyland needs to hire a staff of OTs to implement Universal Design. :]

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