Student Blog
School/Life Balance

No phone for 24 hours? No problem ⟩
October 25, 2012, by Alisa

Life Hacks School/Life Balance

So, I went to my parents’ house for the weekend, and when I was on the freeway coming back to school, I realized I had forgotten my phone at home! I had to make a decision between driving back, which would take about 15 minutes or just go to class. I chose the latter. I knew I could live without a phone. I felt that I got a lot more free time because when I had my smart phone with me, I tend to check it quite often. It’s become a habit, but I do try to refrain from it. Those emails and notifications can wait. Go live your life now. Connect with the people around you. We are humans. We crave social interactions, or at least I do.

The positive side to leaving my phone at home was the fact that I would get to visit home again soon. I didn’t know that it was going to be the very next day! I went back the next day after fieldwork, and it was my dad’s birthday, too! So, we found an excuse to all go out and have dinner together. With the exception of my sister, no one else in my family had been to The Boiling Crab before. We had sweet potato fries, sausage, corn, shrimp, crawfish, and king crab. If you haven’t been to a restaurant like The Boiling Crab, it will get messy! You will be given a bib. It is a totally hands-on experience. You have to do everything yourself from taking off the peel to squeezing the lemon. I was stuffed, but, it was so good. A little on the salty side, but hey, you can for less salt on your orders. I got creative when I ate shrimp with a ball of rice. It reminded me of spam musubi. We’re not done yet. Afterwards, we went to BJ’s just to have pizooki (cookie with ice cream). It reminded me of my childhood since my dad used to get it for us when he got off work as a sheriff. The combination of cookie and ice cream is my guilty pleasure, indeed. The phone that I forgot at home was what brought me back home, and we all happen to be able to celebrate on his special day. Good times.

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Creative ways to achieve balance ⟩
October 24, 2012, by Kendra

School/Life Balance

It’s the middle of the semester which means mid-terms, papers, and presentations hitting us like a tidal wave. Students start showing up in pajamas with dark shadows under their eyes. Backpacks appear fuller and heavier and there’s always someone staring intently at a laptop in a corner or empty classroom.

It is during times like these that I absolutely love my zany cohort. Last week a classmate decided to introduce arbitrary color coordination day. One day each week we all dress up in a color or pattern for absolutely no reason other than we can. Last week was blue.

It really makes no sense why we do this and why we all seem to enjoy attempting to get 45 people to match outfits, but it’s a great way to have fun and de-stress for a few minutes or hours. When we learned about balance in our Health Promotion and Wellness class, we talked about eating healthy meals, getting enough rest, and finding leisure time within a working day. Shockingly the textbooks don’t mention that matching outfits helps you find balance. 😊 And yet, it does. It is something to laugh about, something we all share (in addition to the shared stress about tests and papers) and for a brief moment the stress disappears and we are just friends being silly about arbitrarily coordinating.

Somehow this weird little tradition has become my favorite part of the week and a wonderful reminder of why I love OT school!

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Feeling a little overwhelmed? ⟩
October 18, 2012, by Ricky

Fieldwork School/Life Balance What are OS/OT?

So I was looking at my calendar the other day. I got a lotta things on my plate right now. I am a full-time student, I have a part-time internship, I have a part-time job, and I’m planning a wedding. It also doesn’t help that I live in the Inland Empire, go to school in LA, intern in Whittier, and my fiancée lives in Bellflower. Each day is different and I have had to get creative with my commute to save time and money. But you know how they say, “there’s always gonna be someone who has it worse than you do.” Some people in my class have it pretty rough too. I know this woman who is a mother of 3 and commutes from South Orange County. The life of a grad student is no joke. I get angry when people look at me as if to think “oh, your life is cake,” when I tell them I’m a student. “Trust me, I’d much rather have a 9-5 schedule, buddy,” is what I’m thinking, haha. But anyhow, it begs the question, “why do we do it?” Well, as for me, it’s because I believe in OT. Each fieldwork experience, I meet individuals whose lives have been improved because of OT. They tell me themselves. Like the lady at the rehab hospital who leaned over to me during her OT session and said that in her eyes, her therapists were angels. Or all the parents at the SI clinic who keep telling me that their little one wasn’t able to do this or that, until he/she had started OT. This stuff changes lives. That’s my motivation. I want to be the best OT I can and help as many people as possible, but even if I just help one person in the profound manner that I have seen at fieldwork, that would be worth it.

I want to give a shout-out to the guy I met at the OTAC conference, who said he reads this blog to stay motivated as he completes his prereqs to get into OT school. Bro, I’ve been there, and that can be just as rough (or more). Trying to get the classes is a feat in itself. I’m sure many of you prospective students are juggling jobs, parenthood, and a whole variety of responsibilities. To all of you, stay up and keep at it. I am pretty busy right now, but I don’t regret it one bit. Being here feels right . . . like I’m supposed to be here. I love me some OT.

I say we all pat ourselves on the back.

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Tik-Tok Tik-Tok ⟩
October 18, 2012, by Alisa

School/Life Balance

It is the end of the week, finally! This week has been a long week, and I’m surprised I don’t feel tired. As a college student, it is sometimes hard to manage your time. I guess it does not get easier when you get older, does it? I presented on two assessments today, one is the Worker Role Interview (WRI) and the other one is the Work Environment Impact Scale (WEIS). I had the desire to stay up late last night to finish my PowerPoint presentation. I truly cared about it and wanted to do my best. I even baked pumpkin cake (the mix is from Trader Joe’s) to share with my group members (see below). Considering I had two hours of sleep, I am functioning pretty well. I actually don’t feel tired. I haven’t had any coffee today. I guess I’m just excited about life while the adrenaline is keeping me awake all day. I usually only stay up that late once a semester, not bad for a college student, right? My goal is to manage my time better and not procrastinate. Do you have any tips for time management? I would love to hear it.

Also, on a side note, yesterday my residents dropped by to give me flowers! Oh, life of a resident advisor. I think that really motivated me to finish my presentation. 😊

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Take a day . . . ⟩
September 27, 2012, by Ricky

Life Hacks School/Life Balance What are OS/OT?

So I was faced with a dilemma yesterday. I woke up feeling under the weather — it seems the cold I had been fending off had started to get the best of me. It was my second day of fieldwork, though; still in the trying-to-make-a-good-impression-phase. What was I to do? I wasn’t full on sick, but my body was pretty beat. I got all did-up and was about to walk out the door, but then I did something that was out of character for me: I went back to bed. After going back-and-forth in my mind, I decided to take a sick day. I reasoned that it was in all parties’ interest if I just stayed away. I think what really did it, though, was how bad I’d feel if I were to get one of the little kids at my clinic sick (even though they might be the ones who introduced the bug to me). I mean, how messed up would it be if I was working really hard in session to help these little guys enjoy more independent and meaningful lives, and then go and give them a cold. Anyhow, I took sick day, and it was GREAT!

Usually, when I take a sick day, I feel like a bum for not going to work and I try to make up for it by running a bunch of errands and/or trying to catch up on school work. I don’t really rest. However, yesterday was different. I thought to myself, “enough!” I told myself that this was the real deal, and that I would treat this as if I was at a resort for nothing more than relaxation and “me-time.” I slept until my body said no more. I meditated. I did yoga (yes, guys do yoga). I limited TV-intake to just 2 Friends episodes for a lil comic relief. I ate right to support my immune system (except for those 2 Chips A’hoy that snuck by). And I still managed to get some errands and school work done, and go to bed at a decent time. Come to think of it, it may have well been the most productive sick day ever — and it was possible because I told myself not to worry, and I put myself and my health needs first. I think it’s like hitting the gym at the end of a long day — you really don’t want to, but end up going and feel better and more alert for doing so. I guess that’s how it goes with all things. You gotta pay attention to what your body’s asking for and maintain a healthy balance.

If any of you feel like your life is hopelessly out of balance, you may want to enlist the help of an OT and fill out an Occupational Questionnaire or Balance Wheel. A neat thing I’ve learned recently in my OT 504 course (Health Promotion and Wellness) is that balance will look different for each of us. What does your occupational day-to-day look like? Do you need to take a day?

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