17 - Understand Your “Occupations”
50 Years, 50 Lessons
Lesson 17: Understand Your “Occupations”
Putting my OT hat on, I need to spend some time reflecting on “occupations.”
To an occupational therapist, being alive, and all the things that includes, are your “occupations.”
Get out of bed, get to the bathroom, use the bathroom, wash your hands…these are all self-care occupations. Find work, go to work, stay at work, return to work, find meaning in work, get appropriate pay for working…these are all productivity occupations. Enjoy the company of others, play sports, relax, read, be in nature…these are all leisure occupations.
It’s important that you reflect on all the things you do every day to occupy your time. These are all your “occupations.”
Understanding them and being aligned with how you perform them are pivotal factors in navigating how they might change in time, or in admitting the situations where they are no longer easy or doable for you.
If you can’t do something you want to do, used to do, or need to do, that is an occupational disruption. Even if what you “want to do” isn’t actually doable, the OT lens helps you find an alternative.
You can’t maintain, grow, or alter what you can’t understand to be a problem. Knowing what is important is the first step.
Coaching Thoughts:
What occupations are most important to you? What is your plan to prolong and maintain your ability to continue to do them effectively?
What do you see changing with these important occupations as you age?
What shifts can you make, or conversations can you have now, to proactively deal with occupations you are not happy with?
Reflect on your occupation of work. How does it feel to do what you do and to give so much time to that thing that pays your bills?
Your turn:
OT’s – think of some outlandish occupations you have witnessed over your careers. My personal favorite was “telephone psychic.”
To All: Thank you for being on this journey with me – past, present, and future.
Julie
