Week 13: The end!

As we near the end of the semester, what plans do you have for continuing or discontinuing your new occupation?  Other than the obvious fulfillment of course requirements, do you think that you have benefited from your involvement in the new activity?  If so, how?

To be completely honest I haven't established any "plans" for continuing my occupation of playing the ukulele.  But even without plans I do think that every so often I will pull the ukulele out review some of the songs, and every once in a while take a stab at learning a new song.  I enjoyed playing the ukulele on the weeks that I wasn't as busy with school, because it is a relaxing occupation and there is someting about playing music that can be fulfilling.  I hope that playing the ukulele after this course will be like the time I stopped taking piano lessons and actually practiced the piano more when I wasn't taking lessons, than I did the last couple of years of piano lessons.  There is something about external motivation that can take away some of the motivation and enjoyment of practicing.  I value learning new things and so I do not regret choosing to learn the ukulele this semester.  I have learned things about stringed instruments that I didn't know as well as some of the barriers that individuals face when learning something new.

  

Practice critical thinking by using the Criteria for Evaluating Reasoning on p. 12 of the Critical Thinking Concepts & Tools booklet (Paul & Elder, 2014) to analyze one of the two platform presentations you attended at Research Day.  Briefly review your analysis in your post.

One of the platform presentations I attended was "Informed Consent and the Limited English Patient: A Pilot Project to Assess Student Knowledge, Perceptions and Attitudes."  The purpose of the study was to investigate how attitudes of dental hygiene students change with education of limited english patients and working with interpreters.  The presenter clearly established the purpose of her presentation and the study that she was presenting on.  The question in which they researched was unbiased and was relevant to the study.  The presenter provided the results of the study and the percentages of attitude improvement based on questionairres that the dental hygiene students filled out before and after the intervention.  The presenter explained what informed consent was as well as what constitued a Limited English Patient.  I didn't notice any assumptions that the presenter made, but I could have missed them.  The presenter supported the conclusion of research with the data from the study.  The presenter did inform the audience on a point of view of having family members of a limited english patient be the interpreter.  The presenter did take the position that limited english patient education and experience can benefit many health fields and future clinicians/therapists.  

Do any of the articles/topics we have studied in class pertain to the information presented in the platform presentation?  How?

The communication barrier between the therapist and the limited english patient acts as a social barrier that impacts participation as Cantor and Sanderson talked about.  Another concept that we have discussed in class that could relate to this presentation is that of autonomous regulation.  With the assitance of an interpreter and informed conset the limited english patient and the therapist will better be able to communicate with one another and the patient will more likely feel a sense of autonomy as they are able to have a better understanding and agreement of treatment.  The autonomous regulation will lead to more positive affect, enhanced performance, and greater psychological well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

Week 12: Hope

What's happening with your new occupation? Give us an update.

I didn't spend as much time practicing the ukulele as I did last week.  I went home for the weekend and so I ran through a couple of my songs on the ukulele.  I still really enjoy the song I was learning last week with the 'rifs' which are parts where you pluck instead of strum.  

What applications can you find from the Spencer, Davidson, & White (1997) article to apply to your experience with your new occupation?  How do they apply?

The cognitive aspect of hope allows one to imagine possibilities and establish goals.  The ability to use your imagination as a source of hope that leads to establishing goals has contributed somewhat to my playing the ukulele.  Despite the slow weeks or weeks of not wanting to play I still have hopes and imgaine myself being able to play the ukulele even if it takes a while to learn some of the songs.  Anyways, the emotional aspect of hope includes intention and will.  These factors largely determine whether I continue with an occupation.  I may lack some will for playing the ukulele, but I have a strong will when it comes to playing volleyball or other occupations.  The spiritual aspect of hope hasn't really influenced the playing of the ukulele for me. 

How would you characterize a movie made about your experience with your new occupation? For example, would it be a Gothic horror story? A heart-warming story of triumph over adversity? A madcap comedy? An instructional documentary, suitable for all ages? Something else? Why do you think so?

If my experience with playing the ukulele was made into a movie.  It would be a homemade video where the movie starts off pretty good but then keeps on going without plot and for the majority of the video the story doesn't seem to be going anywhere!  I had pretty high hopes after my first week of playing the ukulele and learning quite a bit, but then I plateaued for a long time and then every once in a while I learn something new and get a little bit of excitement and then it is back to the plateau.

Week 11: Story Telling and Story Making

1. What's happening with your new occupation?  Give us an update.

This week was a better week!  Thursday afternoon I sat down for an hour and played the ukulele.  I found "the ukulele teacher" youtube channel and learned from him.  I also worked on the song "Here Comes the Sun" which had rifs in the song.  Rifs were completely new to me and it is when you are plucking individual strings rather than strumming across all of the strings.  

1. How does the information regarding storytelling and story making as presented by Clark, Ennevor, and Richarson (1996) relate to your new occupation and its place in your personal story? 

In Clark's Slagle lecture, occupational storytelling is the history of the individual as an occupational being and occupational story making is the process of creating a story involving the therapist and the survivor that will be enacted in the future and focused on further development of the survivor as an occupational being.  With regards to playing the ukulele, my occupational story does not involve music very much.  Aside from the piano, the only other instruments I have played are ones that we were required to in elementary music class.  My orchestra class ended with me receiving the lowest grade I have ever received in school, multiple phonecalls to my mom, and my teacher crying. . . so that gives a little insight on how well that class went.  Anyways, music has played a role in my life, but it always went better when I felt intrinsically motivated rather than extrinsically motivated.  Granted some weeks I am more intrinsically motivated when I am practicing the ukulele and other weeks are strictly extrinsic motivation.  

When I first chose the ukulele as my new occupation I saw myself playing the ukulele and it sounding really good. . . . after the first week I realized that the ukulele is mainly used to accompany as you sing.  I originally thought that it would be fine and I would still play knowing that the songs would not sound the same without someone singing along, but it's been a little more challenging than I originally thought.  Although with the discovery of the rifs this week, it might get a little bit better, despite not singing along with the song.  My occupational story making is constantly being reshaped and remolded as I discover challenges or obstacles that are keeping me from becoming the ukulele player I originally envisioned.  

1. Lessons on Living, a collection of Ted Koppel's interviews with Morrie Schwartz, gives us many examples of occupational science concepts that we have studied this semester (such as factors that build resiliency, determinants of individual identity, the meaningfulness of occupation and its effect on life satisfaction, and many others). Which concepts seemed to be most exemplified by the video to you? How do Morrie's statements and/or actions support or refute these concepts?

One occupational science concept that was demonstrated in the interviews with Morrie Schwartz was that of social support.  Morrie emphasized the importance of relationships and the support that his friends and family gave to him when he said "interactions and relationships maintain me and keep me up and alive."  This comment along with many others such as his response to Ted's question about if there was anything they could do for him after the first interview, to which Morrie responded that they could call him regularly and come visit him.  Cantor and Sanderson (1999) listed social support as a resource that facilitates participation in occupations and has the ability to help one overcome barriers.  This supports what was said in the Resilience book where the authors defined social support as "a category of protective factors that deal with social relationships and ties to others" (King et. al., 2003).  Social support acts as a convoy and has the ability to protect one from possible adverse outcomes.  Even the support of just one individual can serve as a protective factor.  Morrie shared life lessons he has learned as he approaches death: talk about it, keep an open heart (encompass as much as you can with your love), be alert, aware, and involved, and be compassionate.  Each of these lessons involves a social relationship or interaction with another individual and demonstrates the value that Morrie placed on social support. 

Week 10:

I'm finding it to be more and more difficult to find motivation to keep playing the ukulele.  I don't know if it is attributed to where we are in the semester and motivation may be lacking in many areas, or if it is just a lack of motivation to play the ukulele.  I didn't learn any new songs this week, but did play through the songs I have previously learned.  

Deci and Ryan explained the self-determination theory and how the two types of motivation(autonomous and controlled) influece behavior.  External and introjected regulations are forms of controlled motivation, whereas identified/integrated and intrinsic regulation are forms of autonomous motivation. Introjection is when people take in an external contingency, demand, or regulation but don't accept it as their own.  Identification is when people identify with the value of the activity and willingly accept responsibility for regulating the behavior.  With identification the individual does not feel pressured or controlled to do the behavior.  At the beginning of the semester when I chose to learn the ukulele I would say that I had a mixture of identification and introjection extrinisically motivating me.  I saw the value of learning a new occupation and relating my experiences to the material we were learning, but my desire to learn a new occupation was heavily driven by class assignments.  As the semester has progressed I identify more with the introjection type of internalization which is a type of controlled motivation. The external factors of class assignments and expectations are what are driving my continuation of the occupation although most weeks practice feels more like a burden than a time of enjoyment.   

 Yerxa (1994) says that occupation is "engagement in self-initiated, self-directed, adaptive, purposeful, culturally relevant, organized activity." In the video "Half Man, Full Life" Jesse Stitcher demonstrated his drive to engage in occupations that give him meaning and enjoyment in life.  Some of the occupations Jesse participates in include driving, performing, physical labor, four-wheeling, etc.  Jesse talked about wanting to participate in occupations that challenged him.  One example was when he decided to switch from just selling the satellite dishes to running his own company that included the installation of the satelite dishes as well.  This relates to the concept of flow and participating in activities that provide the right amount of challenge for the set of skills one has.  When Jesse made this switch in his career he found more fulfillment and enjoyment out of his job.

Week 9: Boredom

Since I left my ukulele at my apartment during spring break, the only time I played it was before I left, when I ran through the songs that I have already learned.  It may have been beneficial to bring my ukulele home with me and show my parents what I had been learning, because they most likely would have become a source of social support and encouraged me to keep playing.

In the Martin, Gayno, & Stew (2006) article they found one elderly woman who claimed to never experience boredom.  The song "Flowers on the Wall" reminded me of this elderly woman.  This woman had been very active in her earlier years, but now was content to spend her days in a small room and had many interests which kept her occupied.  She utilized several protective factors which allowed her to never experience boredom. Protective factors are the personal qualities or supports that protect an individual from risk (King, Brown, & Smith, 2003).  Some of the protective factors that this woman used to reduce boredome include: a positive outlook on life, involvement in many interests, an ability to adapt to situations, and a well-developed sense of humor.

The individual in the song lists off multiple things that occupies his/her time and in which he/she is able to find enjoyment out of.  At one point in the song the individual states "I'm really doing fine.  You can always find me here, having quite a time" for me this demonstrates the positive outlook on life, as well as the ability to find enjoyment out of tasks that others may find mundane or boring.

Week 8: Resources and Participation

This week was a lot better on the ukulele!  The first time I sat down to play this week it was very enjoyable to play through the songs that I have learned!  I also, learned another song this week thanks to youtube!  I enjoyed learning from a youtube tutorial because then I could play along and compare to see if what I was playing was anywhere in the realms of what the person in the video was playing. 

Cantor and Sanderson (1999) listed many resources that individuals may utilize that impact their ability to participate in valued activities.  There are resources that I use that have helped and or hindered my ability to participate in my occupation.  One of the resources that has influenced my occupation the greatest is social support.  Cantor and Sanderson (1999) list that social support can be emotional, appraisal, instrumental, or informational each of which can play a part in the success of an occupation.  Since my roommates are the ones that listen to me play the ukulele they have provided social support through encouraging, teaching, and supporting.  Additionally, the youtube tutorial I used this week the instructor could be considered a resource for social support.  One resource that I am not fully utilizing that may be hindering my participation in my new occupation is that I don't have specific plans for how I am going to carry out my occupation each week.  I pick up the ukulele when I feel like playing or when I have to so that I can write my blog.  Cantor and Sanderson (1999) mentioned that "individuals with specific plans for where, when, and how to pursue a goal are more likely to achieve their goals" (p. 236).  Since I do not have specific plans for the implementation of my occupation it can become a problem when goal-impeding obstacles arise.  

Cantor and Sanderson (1999) listed social support as a resource that facilitates participation in occupations and has the ability to help one overcome barriers.  This supports what was said in the Resilience book where the authors defined social support as "a category of protective factors that deal with social relationships and ties to others" (King et. al., 2003).  Social support acts as a convoy and has the ability to protect one from possible adverse outcomes.  Even the support of just one individual can serve as a protective factor. 

Week 7: Occupation and Identity

- The ukulele playing is still going.  I tend to sit down for a few minutes each day and play.  I continue to practice the songs that I have learned previously and I tried a new song this week as well.  

- Many of the factors that led me to choose to learn the ukulele were described in my first blog post and contain a combination of previous experiences, personal desire, social values, and societal pressures.  At the beginning of the semester practicing the ukulele was driven by the excitement of a new occupation and wanting to fit in with the social values placed upon individuals who can play the ukulele.  In essence, my desire at the beginning of the semester was driven by my "possible self" as well as my "me" which is who we are in our own and others' eyes.   As the weeks continue to go on, my personal excitement for the ukulele has sometimes lacked and the driving force for continung to practice is societal pressures that are the requirements for the new occupation assignment. 

 - The "me" is what I initially perceived as I looked into the "mirror" because it is the idea of being a ukulele player that drove me in the occupation. More recently the "I" has been masking the positive aspects of the "me" as I am going through the motions of participating in the occupation and merely "doing" the occupation rather than allowing the occupation to become part of my identity.  I think this can be tied to flow.  I haven't experienced a period of flow while playing the ukulele recently and maybe I have shifted even further from the relaxation phase to the boredom phase and so I am losing sight of the possible self.  

Week 6 Entity vs. Incremental

Please list some skills, domains, activities, etc. in your life that you tend to apply Dweck's entity theory.

- Writing, english, singing, 

Please list some skills, domains, activities, etc. in your life that you tend to apply Dweck's incremental theory.

- Sports, Math, Sewing, Skiing, Cooking, Motorcycling, Work, Fitness, Piano

Please discuss how your past and present occupational choices may be influenced either direclty or indirectly by either the incremental or entity theories?

- The occupations that I enjoy participating in and continue to participate in are ones where I have an incremental theory outlook on the particular activity.  If I feel like I am in control of my experience and can influence the outcome through hard work and effort, I enjoy these activities more.  The occupations where I have an entity theory view I don't like the activity and dread paticipating in such activity.  I think the reason I enjoy the activities that I have more of an incremental theory view towards is because in Csikszentmihaly & Nakamura's article "The Concept of Flow" they talked about how the quality of a person's experience is influenced by the subjective challenges and subjective skills rather than the objective ones.  This ties into the incremental vs. entity theory because in an incremental theory the individual is measuring subjective skills such as learning goals rather than performance goals which can be measured objectively.  

- Another way that my occupational choices are influenced by the entity theory is if I feel like I don't have a particular skill in an activity such as soccer I choose not to participate and instead just say that "soccer isn't my sport."  Which really is just a cop out excuse, I do realize that if I wanted to be better at soccer I could be through practice, but since that is something that I am not motivated to do at this point it is easier for me to have an entity theory view and just simply avoid the occupation by saying that I'm not good at it.  

Describe the relationship between the self theories and your ability to particpate in and develop increased performance in your new occupation?

- With regards to my new occupation the incremental theory applies well, being that I started out as a beginner and know that through practice and time I can be better and learn more songs and skills on the ukulele.  Although sometimes I am finding a hinderence in my "incremental theory" outlook on playing the ukulele, because I find myself in the relaxation section of the concept of flow chart and being content at staying in that category.  Which if I continue to stay in the relaxation phase of flow I will block the amount of progression and subjective skills and challenges I could have if I would push myself to a state of flow.  

Week 5

1) Briefly update the group on the pursuit of your new occupation.  What's new?

This week I learned to play the song "Someone to Lava Me" from Pixar's short movie "Lava."  

2) After re-examining the characteristics of flow (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, p. 90), discuss whether you have experienced this state.  If so, what activities have brought it about, and how often has it occurred?

Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi described being in flow with the folllowing characteristics:

- Intense and focused concentration on what one is doing in the present moment

- Merging of action and awareness

- Loss of reflective self-consciousness

- A sense that one can control one's actions; that is, a sense that one can in principle deal with the situation because one knows how to respond to whatever happens next

- Distortion of temporal experience (typically, a sense that time passed faster than normal)

- Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, such that often the end goal is just an excuse for the process.

I experience flow in a variety of activities.  I've experienced flow through sports, education, motorcycling, playing the piano, work, etc.  One activity that puts me in a state of flow is math homework. Now you are probably thinking that I am crazy.  I probably am, but I was/am the student who would rather to 10 hours of math homework than write a paper or read a book for a class. Although I didnt' take many math classes in college, I would get estatic anytime we had math related homework in Chemistry, Physics, or Biomechanics.  I loved solving the problems and working through the process to get the right answer.  I felt very much in control and had confidence in being able to figure out the problem, time would pass by and I wouldn't even mind, and I was excited during the working of the problem and even more satisfied when I had found the right answer. 

Another activity that regularly allows me to experience flow is playing volleyball.  The only requirement here is that since I did play volleyball through high school I am used to playing at a higher level.  So in order to experience flow while playing volleyball, the skill level of those I am playing with needs to be around a varsity level in order for there to be a right challenge for my skills.  When I play with a group who is not very skilled or competitive, I find myself in the boredome or apathy category in the flow diagram and do not find as much enjoyment from the activity.  

3) Analyze your new occupation in regard to its current level of challenge for you and your current skill.  Does the occupation appear to have the potential to create a flow experience for you?  What would have to change in order for this to occur?

- I have been playing the piano since I was six years old.  With a background in how to read and play music, changing from one musical instrument to another is not very difficult.  So it didn't take long to pick up the ukuele and understand the chords and rthyms.  Currently I have been playing more beginner level songs on the ukulele, and would say that my skills are above the challenge and so I am in a state of relaxation when I play.  

- In the Resilience book it says "Flow is a state of mind that occurs when our thoughts are focused on the activity at hand and we want to pursue whatever we are doing for its own sake" (pp. 60-61).  With this description of flow I would say that I experience brief moments of flow as I practice, but it isn't like with my math homework where I would stay in flow throughout the entire assignment. I think the best way for me to experience more flow while playing the ukulele would be to switch from the calculative thinking of "I'm playing for an hour each week for an assignment and to write a blog" to more meditative thinking where playing the ukulele becomes more meaningful and I see the picture that goes beyond an assignment for class. 

4) Analyze your personal characteristics and preferences in regard to the information about autotelic personalities (see pp. 93, 95, and 97-99).  How closely do you fit that personality type?  How might your personality affect the attractiveness of the flow experience as a motivator to choose particular occupations in your life?

Some of the characteristics of a person with an autotelic personality include: one who has a general curiosity and interest in life, persistance, is motivated by intrinsic rewards, has well-defined future goals, and tends to enjoy life or "generally does things for their own sake, rather than in order to achieve some later external goal."  I would not classify myself as a full on, 100% autotelic personality.  I have been told countless times to "take time to stop and smell the roses"  because I find myself so focused on the future that I sometimes forget to enjoy each day.  I do prefer tasks that challenge my skills and where I learn and grow from the situation rather than apathy situations. Liking the growth that comes from a challenge, my personality has motivated me to pursue occupations in my life that would create the opportunity to exeperience flow.  

Week 4

Nothing too crazy happened with playing the ukulele this week, I learned a new song and a new strumming pattern on the ukulele.

One space that has become a place or as Casey describes it a "container of experiences"  is the living room in my parent's house.  We moved into this house when I was 3 years old and since then memories have been collecting within this space.  Memories such as Christmas morning, practicing the piano, and family parties all help to transform this space into a place. Some of my favorite memories within this space are the countless hours my brothers and I spent playing volleyball using the railing on the stairs as the volleyball net and Nerf basketball!  All in all this living room is not just a space within my parent's home, but rather it truly is a "container of experiences" where memories continue to be formed.  

I practice the ukulele in my room.  My room was just a space to me 6 months ago when I moved in, but that is slowing changing as different experiences and memories are being made in this space.  Tuan explained that  "What begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value."  Practicing the ukulele in my room is an experience that allows me to be creative and provides other memories so that when in my room I think of the ukulele.  Not only is my room becoming a place, but it is also becoming my home. 

Week 3

This week was a crazy week that dragged on forever.  I have gotten used to the four day school weeks, and so having five days was an adjustment!  Since school was busy and I was focused on other assignments and tests, the ukulele was not my priority.  Each night before I went to bed I would play for 10-15 minutes.  I kept practicing the same song I learned last week and tried several different strumming patterns with it.  

Hasselkus' idea that occupation may enrich one's spirituality and vice versa is something that I have found to hold true in my one life.  For me spirituality has been closely connected to occupations that have come through my religion, such as attending church, reading scriptures, or through prayer.  In addition to occupations that are tied to both my religion and spirituality, activities such as going running or enjoying nature.  Each of these occupations allow me to connect my inner self to my outer self.  Most of the occupations that I connect with spirituality allow for meditation and time to reflect. 

When first thinking about whether playing the ukulele has enriched my spirituality, I initially thought that there was no way that it has.  But as I continued to think about my thoughts and feelings as I play the ukulele I realized that there is satisfaction that has come from being able to create something.  The ability to create gives me a sense of connectedness.  

The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF) 3rd edition classifies spirituality as a client factor and defines spirituality as the "Aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred." In my opinion, much of the controversy that has come with spirituality and the health field comes from a misunderstanding of what spirituality is and how it influences the health and well being of an individual. Since spirituality is a way that individuals express meaning and purpose and as Hasselkus explained that occupation and spirituality are intertwined.  I find it appropriate for Spirituality to be a client factor because client factors are individual to the client and influence the client's performance in occupations.  For each individual spirituality is going to be expressed differently.  The impact that spirituality will have on an individual and his or her occupations will be dependent on the meaning he or she associates with spirituality. 

Week 2

After getting home from the music store last week I took the ukulele out of it's box. I was excited to start playing and hearing the fun sounds of the ukulele.  I ran my finger across the strings and was instantly disappointed.  My ukulele sounded horrible!  It hadn't crossed my mind to check to see if it was in tune before I left the store.  So there my ukulele sat in its box underneath my bed for the next few days.  It wasn't until Tuesday when campus was closed and I was home with all of my roommates that my roommate Jessica offered to help tune my ukulele.  She has this really neat tuning device that clips to the end of the ukulele.  As you play a string it tells you how to adjust the strings to get the ukulele in tune!  It was pretty exciting when I finally got all four strings to the green area and the ukulele finally sounded like a ukulele.  My excitement went away pretty fast as my roommate proceeded to tell me that when you play the ukulele there are certain strumming patterns and proceeded to say "down-down-up-up-down-up" as she strummed her ukulele.  Puzzled is a pretty good description to how I was feeling as I attempted to get my right hand to go down-down-up-up-down-up.  After a while of repeating the strumming pattern I decided that it was time to try and learn a song.  So I did the only logical thing and started watching videos on YouTube.  I found a video that had the chords displayed on the screen as the guy was demonstrating how to play the song.  Being that I didn't know any of the chords, I paused the video every few seconds and drew each chord in sequence out on a piece of paper.  Once this task was finished I then attempted to play the song.  I would pause between each chord and awkwardly place my fingers on the strings and then say "down-down-up-up-down-up."  Over and over and over again.  Many times I thought to myself, I'm never going to sound like Jessica when she plays, but I kept trying.  Tuesday evening I was feeling more comfortable with the ukulele and came out and played the "song" for my roommates and asked if they could guess what song it was.  It wasn't until I was almost done with the song that they guessed correctly.  I was actually surprised, because if I didn't know what song I was trying to play there is no way that I would have been able to guess.  Needless to say there is still a lot of improvement to take place as I continue to learn the ukulele.

Learning to play the ukulele is my new occupation for the semester.  Occupation, a word that is so comprehensive that it has many, many different definitions. . . . How does learning to play the ukulele fit in as an occupation? 

Clark et al. (1991) described occupation as "the ordinary and familiar things people do everyday." Currently, there is nothing that feels ordinary or familiar about playing the ukulele.  

Yerxa (1994) says that occupation is "engagement in self-initiated, self-directed, adaptive, purposeful, culturally relevant, organized activity."  Well, practicing the ukulele has been self-initiated and self-directed with the help of people on YouTube. Adaptability - I am a beginner and am adapting practice to better meet my needs.   Purposeful - I am learning something new and it happens to be a homework assignment.  

Golledge (1998) offered a simplified definition of occupation, "the daily living tasks that are part of an individual's lifestyle."  Playing the ukulele has only recently become a daily task but I wouldn't go as far to say that playing the ukulele has become part of my lifestyle.

Why would playing the ukulele fit well with one definition of occupation, yet not fit in at all to another definition of occupation?  Isn't an occupation an occupation?  Anyways, I guess that is part of the reason we still struggle to explain what Occupational Therapists do, and why Hasselkus explains that the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework provides many definitions of occupation.

If I were to apply Willcock's  model of occupation "doing + being, becoming, belonging = survival and health" to playing the ukulele, the majority of what I am focused on is the doing aspect of the occupation.  As far as the being, becoming, and belonging aspects of this model, over this week I have been frustrated and excited and everything in between, but there is less frustration the more I practice the song I learned this week.  The feelings of frustration will hopefully continue to diminish as I find more enjoyment out of playing the ukulele.

Week 1

You know that point in the semester when you have so much stuff you should be doing, but you come up with lots of ways to keep busy to prolong doing your school work.  The times when having dance parties, going to get ice cream, and playing volleyball aren't even questions in your mind, you are going because if you don't you would be in the library studying for your exam.  Even cleaning your apartment and going to the gym sound like great ideas, because well you haven't worked out all semester but in high school health class they told you that exercising was good for your brain. Well for me this situation may or may not occur way more than once a semester, but I can usually count on it happening around finals week each semester.  My second semester of college was no exception!  With only a few days left in the semester my roommate and I were in the living room avoiding school work for a couple of hours as she played the ukulele and then proceeded to show me a few of the basics.  It was so much fun and way more memorable than studying a couple more pages in my sociology book.  Since that jam session I have wanted to learn to play the ukulele, but have never made it a priority.  So here I am 5 years later finally making steps towards the goal of learning the ukulele.

Most of the steps that I have taken in efforts to start my new occupation fall in the calculative thinking.  I researched ukuleles online before deciding to purchase a ukulele at a local music store. In addition to purchasing the ukulele I have talked with friends who play the ukulele who are willing to help teach me the basics.  As of right now my occupation is going to be heavy in calculative thinking until I am comfortable with the basics of the ukulele and can move towards more meditative thinking.  I am hoping that the meditative thinking will come more into play as I  learn to enjoy playing the ukulele and choose songs that have more meaning to me.

The only personal experience I have had with a ukulele is the one that I described earlier with my roommate.  Although this experience has given me a small amount of personal meaning in my desire to learn the ukulele, the majority of my desire to learn is coming from societal expectations that may come from class or my desire to conform with my current roommates who play string instruments as well.