Beautiful Disruptions

Hi guys! My name is Joyce and welcome to my blog~ I decided to begin this open book to record my journey through graduate school and the various thoughts that run through my head post-grad.

If you have ever met me, you know that I cannot go without talking about a very near and dear passion of mine, occupational therapy (OT). If you haven't heard of it, don't worry! It's a fairly young profession that has been meeting exponential growth in interest and awareness.

While you can easily google the definition of OT, more often than not, you will find that each individual explains OT in a different way. It just goes to show the power of personalization that OT practices. To me... OT is all about taking disruptions in your life and turning them into something beautiful.... beautiful disruptions.

What do I mean by that? STORY TIME.

When I get asked the questions, "Why did you choose OT?" I never leave out the story of my grandmother. She experienced a car accident decades ago, before I was born. It was a T5/T6 incomplete spinal cord injury. Essentially, she was paralyzed from the waist down with a subtle sensation of her bladder. As years passed, the caregiver burden grew and my grandfather could no longer care for her alone. That is when my family decided to move in. Thus, I was exposed to many healthcare situations as a child.

I remember I would use my grandmother's reacher as my play toy pinch my little brother. I would also get in trouble riding around in her wheelchair. To society these are representations of disability, weakness, and annoyance. But I saw the little but impactful influences they had on my grandmother's quality of life.

My grandmother's accident and injury was a disruption to my family's lives. My father had to quit school and my mother was constantly caring for her mother-in-law. Family trips were difficult to plan because at least one of my parents had to stay home to be with my grandmother. Our day-to-day schedule worked around my grandmother's bowel and bladder movements. As a child, I envied other grandmothers who drove their grandchildren around!

However, these disruptions were beautiful in of themselves. I created an important and healthy relationship with my grandparents. Many of my friends did not even have the opportunity to talk with their grandparents. I realized that I am the happiest when I am serving others. This has led me to a career path that sets my heart on fire! This specific disruption brought my family closer as we worked to walk through every obstacle together.

OT guides the individual to take the disruptions in their lives (like physical illness, mental health, financial difficulty, medication management, etc.) and turn them into something meaningful, something beautiful.