Today one of my besties and truly a woman who I greatly respect and admire, Jenna Anderson, gives us a new take on our health installment and reminds us to count our many blessings.
First off, thank you to D.I.V.A. Blog for inviting me to write. And I apologize in advance because this is the beginning of me babbling on.
Being asked to write about health is an interesting request, it should be easy because working in healthcare, it’s my career, specifically working in pediatrics as an occupational therapist- don’t worry, most people don’t know what occupational therapy (OT) is, so I’ll tell you a bit about it. OT is a very general term with an overall goal of helping individuals to gain, regain, or sustain skills to be as independent as possible. I work with kids so it’s lots of fun, to the naked eye, I play with kids all day, but underlying are much more complicated sensory and neurological systems working together. Basically, kids learn through play and imagination, it’s not always sitting at a desk in class. I love to share stories about the kids I work with because they are so unique and truly “special” as in individuals, not necessarily “special” in a disability sense. I hope you enjoy this brief story about a 5 year old boy I have the joy of working with.
“Get outside and enjoy the fresh air”… this is easier said than done for some. Working with kids with special needs, this saying takes a whole other aspect to “going outside” or “smelling the fresh air.” Recently I asked a 5 year old child I work with how he is enjoying playing soccer for the first time. His response was as expected initially, something along the lines of, “I like it to kick the ball and run around,” but then he opened my eyes with the rest of his response. He added that he “hates the smell” of soccer, meaning the grass and park-like smell I assume. He also said he “hates the hard grass, bright sun, and whistle blowing.” At this point I realized that this child isn’t able to enjoy being outside and being a “regular” kid. As opposed to enjoying the experience of learning to play soccer, making friends, and being part of a team, he is distracted by his hyper-sensitive responses of his sensory system (smell, sight, and touch). It’s times like this that I have to re-evaluate my personal complaints, I can’t stand my boss, it’s hot out, I don’t want to clean the house, we all know the list can go on; Anyways, in the grand scheme of things, I have nothing to complain about and neither do you. I guess in coming full circle with my babbling on, the moral of my brief story is to think twice before you complain about life because at least you have the ability to “get outside to enjoy the fresh air…”
Jenna Anderson is graduate of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut and is currently a Pediatric Occupational Therapist in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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