Perspective

When I was younger, there was something that my mom would always tell me and it had to do with rolling with the punches and accepting what life had to offer you. She would say "you can't cry over spilled milk." What she was trying to tell me was that I can't dwell on the things that I can't change. Of course, when you're 5, spilling your milk felt like the world was coming to an end, and as you get older, you experience more and more things that make you feel like your whole world is crashing down. Of course, you'll always go through difficult situations, but you learn how to cope with them, even if it seems like it takes forever. But sometimes, life throws you a huge curveball and you're put in a situation where you have 2 choices: learn from it or let it completely take you over. 

The talk from Fletcher Cleaves was definitely one of the highlights of OT school, so far. It was one of those defining moments that reassured me that I was in the right place. Fletcher played football at Cordova High School and received a football scholarship for Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee. Before his first season started, Fletcher was in a car accident where he sustained a spinal cord injury. For someone who had his whole life ahead of him as a potential football star, he could've easily taken his situation and spiraled into depression or self-agony. Instead he took his situation with a grain of salt and looked at it as an opportunity to grow. Fletcher didn't let his spinal cord injury define him or change him. He is still the same person that he was before his accident and a better man because of it. He did nothing but make me smile and laugh the entire time. I respect him so much for who he is and what he does with the life that he was given. 

As an occupational therapist, you won't always have motivated clients like Fletcher. A lot of the time you will have clients that feel hopeless, weak, or depressed, but the important thing is to give your clients motivation and new reason to move forward. There is something out there that makes a person tick, but you, as an occupational therapist, have to find that one thing that will help your client to find motivation and a purpose in life, whether it's an old one or a new one.