As someone who works with kids with disabilities, I am learning DAILY! Not only am I learning more about how to support them as an occupational therapist, but also about myself.
January 29th’s Bloganuary prompt is “what is something you learned recently?” I have been learning a lot of things every single day, including things, like emotional regulation, different coping strategies, different ways to support my clients with varying abilities, and so much more.
Right now, professionally, my learning focus is on some thing called interoception. This is the recognition of how her body is feeling, not only emotion wise, but if we are hungry, or thirsty, or if we need to go to the bathroom… And so much more. A lot of the children and adults that I work with, who have challenges regulating their emotions, also have trouble recognizing their physical bodies. If you have worked with children who are very young, often times, you may ask them to use the washroom and their response is, I don’t have to. We have a bunch of kids at my work who will insist and cry and scream but they don’t have to go to the bathroom, and then, when you take them, it’s obvious they really had to go. I also work with some adults who insist that they are not hungry or thirsty, but then have a hard time with anxiety or regulating their emotions, and when they eat, it helps them. I always joke with my adult client, and with my little client that Hangry is a real thing.
Once I finish doing some more reading and completing the book that I’m reading right now, I will be sure to share a little bit more about interception, and some resources that you can look at.
Another bit of learning that I’m doing is on the personal side. Over the Christmas holidays, I had two weeks off from work in which I really realized the significance of rest for my mental and physical health. I have started to add schedule the rest into my routine.
Working on my routine, I’ve learned that keeping Sunday as a day of rest, in which all I do is whatever my body feels in the moment, has been a game changer. In the winter because I work outside my body gets way more physically tired because you’re wearing extra layers which adds wait to you and you’re also running in the snow. I am also naturally a cold person, so my body works extra. Hard to keep me warm. By the end of the week I am absolutely physically exhausted. Because I need to provide myself different strategies to get through the activities of daily living, such as eating, and sleeping and cleaning, my mental energy also takes a toll.
Being able to take the time to follow, what my body wants and maybe working out or maybe not, maybe reading all day, or going for a walk or seeing a friend or playing my Nintendo switch, has set me up for success. Even though I absolutely love my job, and all of the people I work with, and all of the people I work for, I get a major case of the Sunday Scaries. In the last couple weeks, my Sunday scaries have been SIGNIFICANTLY less as I’m able to give my body a complete disconnect from stress and to calm my sensory system.
Im learning every day, but recently my learning in professional and personal areas has been benefitting my own daily life and im looking forward to continuing this learning
Do you have any learning you’ve been doing recently ?
Be Your Own Sunshine 