Remember: Occupational Therapists define the word
“occupation” as the way people “occupy” their time. So, for us, this term
actually includes all roles involved in living (again, therapy for living, who
knew?). In keeping with my theme for October, in celebration of OT month,
I will continue to explore the journey of “occupation” from morning to night,
highlighting how OT’s help when things breakdown along the continuum that is
living.
Let’s just assume that we have done all the important
stuff. We have slept, are out of bed,
groomed, dressed, fed, are done being productive, and did some fun stuff in
between. Eventually, like it or not, we
need to tackle the not-fun stuff.
The interesting thing about “not-fun stuff” is that everyone
defines this so differently. Each of us
has our own unique interests, abilities, and standards when it comes to
groceries, laundry, cleaning and managing our yard and property. Personally, I loathe grocery shopping (and
anything that is meal preparation) and would rather cut the lawn then use a
vacuum. My kids do their own laundry as
of age 10 because it has a wonderful built in consequence. No laundry = no clothes to wear and I don’t
need to say a thing. Besides, I don’t
think asking them to start doing this at 16 will go as well. With six of us in our house, and two animals,
the meal responsibilities, cleaning, and shopping tasks are time
consuming. However, all off these things
are another layer in my lasagna of “occupations”.
Imagine you are in a car accident and spend a few weeks in
hospital. Your spouse, friend, mother,
brother, someone, has to swoop in and help with your children, pets or
house. Eventually you come home and find
that things have not been done to your standards, if done at all, and it will
be months before you will have the ability to get back to these tasks
independently. The look of your home and
property is stressful for you, the meals are different, and you are home all
day to notice. Or maybe you weren’t in a
car accident, but have a progressive illness or medical condition that renders
you to be no longer able to complete heavier tasks, but you try diligently to
manage the smaller tasks within your abilities but this too is now
declining. Perhaps you have sustained a
brain injury and your memory is lacking for when things were last accomplished,
or when you try to go to the store you end up missing half of the items on your
list, if you even take one. Or worse,
the store is an overwhelming place for you considering the visual and auditory
stressors from any busy shopping environment.
Maybe mood is the problem: depression
and anxiety can be significant barriers to getting things done, but yet the
more things are not done, the more depressed and anxious you become. The cycle
continues.
Managing a household and all the tasks included in this, is
very much an occupation. It is a
separate set of demands from personal care, earning an income, or managing our
productive time. Occupational therapists
routinely help clients to return to the occupation that is managing a home. There are multiple strategies that can be used
for people with brain injuries, chronic pain, or social phobias to return
successfully to grocery shopping. There
are also multiple aids available that makes light and heavy cleaning
easier. We often need to help people
break down tasks into smaller chunks, or educate people on pacing as a means to
get things accomplished. Education on proper
body mechanics is also very useful at reducing strain on recovering shoulders,
necks and backs for things like lifting, carrying, reaching, and bending. Outdoor tasks are more difficult to resume,
simply because they are heavier, but many of the same principles apply. If behavior, mood or avoidance are the
problem, we have strategies and tools to help with that also. We believe that most functional problems have
a solution.
Occupations are therefore all the things included in
managing your home. These tasks can be
heavy, time consuming, and “not-fun”, but they are a necessary part of
living. If you are struggling to get
these things done, or know someone else who is, occupational therapy can help.
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