My first day back…I survived!

I survived my first day back in school. It was a long day, 8 to 4pm with only 30 minutes for lunch due to a class/staff meeting. (Sounds like the real world…horrors!) We are focusing on adulthood this semester, and it will be interesting. We will get to learn more about wheelchairs, physical dysfunction, psychiatry, technology, home adaptations, neurological impairments, and more. It excites me because historically, I have observed OTs dealing with wheelchairs and always feel stupid that I don't know what's going on. I guess I always assume people absorb knowledge magically and something is wrong with me if I don't also magically have that knowledge base. Now that I'm seeing our line-up of classes and topics, I'm realizing…uh…yeah…it's not magical.

Today we had a lecturer come in and discuss Work Hardening. This is a fascinating subject to me because of the psychology involved in figuring out who is faking and who is not, who has motivation and why, etc. It seems like you have to be a pretty tough personality to deal with some of the more challenging cases. We have about ten thousand presentations to make in this upcoming semester, and several of them are really long. Of course, every project/presentation we have involves a group project. There was a flurry of drama as everybody tried to get in groups with people they were comfortable with, either due to friendship or knowledge of good work ethics. Some days it seems like it is better if we are just assigned groups, but then there are always people angry they got stuck with others they didn't like. Yet when we have to pick our own groups, drama ensues, so I guess either way has its pros and cons.

Even though it was no fun getting up early and being overwhelmed by all our projects, it WAS fun to get to see everyone. It felt like we had never left. Plus our classroom got some great technology enhancements while we were gone, to help make it easier to work with the distance learning component (some of our class is across the state and interacts with us live on TV monitors). After class I printed out a bunch of stuff, went home and checked my email and called my friend, then went back to school to go to yoga with another OT girl. We had a good time and now I'm home, showered, and relaxing here for a few minutes. Decompressing by writing out my thoughts. Then I'll start reading parts of the DSM-IV-TR in preparation for a psychiatry lecture tomorrow. I'm surprisingly unstressed. I'm honestly normally easily stressed out and anxiety-ridden, but I feel good today. Not too tired, ready to tackle the work. Of course in a day or two I'll be moaning about how stressed I am, so I'll enjoy the feeling while it lasts!

If anyone wants to post their thoughts on their own OT/OTS experiences, I'd be happy to put it up. Just e-mail me!

Jul 10, 2007 | Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none