School starts Tuesday!! Yippee!!

So, I must admit I'm one of the few people on Earth that LOVES school. I don't exaggerate when I say this so I'll repeat it so you really get what I'm saying: I LOVE SCHOOL! I enjoy the entire learning process, ESPECIALLY when I'm learning about other cultures or the human body, two of my favorite subjects. The human body is simply fascinating to me. The way we grow in the mother's warm, protecting womb, how our muscles receive electrical impulses and respond to directions and how the food we eat nourishes and feeds our bodies or poisons and weakens our bodies. It amazes me how the body responds, moves and keeps going when we treat it poorly; it's incredibly resilient. I'm enamored by it's awesomeness. It's beautiful and God did and awesome thing when He created it.

But, I digress (see how much I love the human body???? I can't even stay focused), back to how much I love school. I'm excited to pair two things I LOVE--school and the human body-- starting this Tuesday, only 6 days away!! Yippee! (insert 'Hallelujah' choir song here, heavens open, bright line shines) I am a brand spanking new Master of Occupational Therapy student. This is one of the most exciting times in my life!!!! (Yippee!!! again) Probably more exciting than when I left the US right after college to live in Japan for a year. Occupational Therapy is an incredible, vibrant field filled with wonderful people and it fits my personality perfectly.

For those who don't know, Occupational Therapy is the study of human occupation. Not occupation as in a job or career but occupation as in occupations of daily human life. Occupational therapists help people live meaningful, purposeful and fulfulling lives by enabling them to participate in (their) daily activities, activities that have meaning to them. For example, if you are in a car accident and you sustain an injury--a severly broken thumb which disables your ability to bend your thumb --you're suddenly aware of the importance and usefulness of your thumb. Immediately you realize how difficult it is button your shirt, braid your hair, open a can of soda or water, cook, clean, bowl, tie your shoes and a slew of other activities. An occupational therapist would you provide you with the necessary therapy to strengthen your thumb, thereby enabling you to resume your normal 'occupations.' It's an awesome career and I'm grateful to start the learning process next week! (Yippee!!! ok, I'm done with that now, I promise)

My Master of Occupational Therapy journey is 2.5 years--about 2 years of school work and a little over 6 months of clinicals. I'm 30 years old and until now I think I've only dabbled in various fields, searching, trying to find which field 'complemented' me most. At 30, I'm most interested in finding fulfilling work and working with interesting people. This time is bittersweet for me. I just left a job with the most interesting (and awesome) co-workers and the best boss (ever) to follow my dreams. It's a little scary (only a little) but I KNOW it's the right thing to do because I feel so peaceful about it. I have no job and very little money and it's a daunting situation to be in. Some people think I'm crazy for quitting my job to go to school in the health field when I have a perfectly good Bachelor of Science in Finance from a top-notch school. But Finance has not been fulfilling for me. So, one day I started thinking: I'm 30 years old and although I'm employed with great folks and and a great boss am I making the money I could make? Am I living to my full potential? What's my current career path? Could I do something greater? You get to thinking about these things and you realize how incredible you really are (I have high self-esteem, can't you tell???) and suddenly you're searching for something interesting, purposeful, meaningful and fulfulling.

Occupational Therapy found me. I think this is why I feel so peaceful about this incredibly daring decision I've just made. I can't go back now, I already took the plunge. I'm accepted at an awesome University with an awesome program, I have an all tuition paid scholarship (such a blessing!), I notified my job, interviewed potential replacements with my boss and after choosing the replacment I'm now training her and finally, my last day at work is Friday--only two days away! I'm excited and terrified, although more excited than terrified. I wish I could describe how peaceful I feel about this decision. I know it will work out, I can feel it...

So, I've decided to blog about this incredible journey I'm about to face. Partly because blogging is interesting and my OT student blogger idol Karen Dobyns (all hail Karen!!! you can find her at http://otstudents.blogspot.com/) inspired me with her incredibly witty, insightful blogs throughout her 2 year journey....and partly because I would like to look back over this journal one day and witness my growth and transformation, which will hopefully help someone else. When I was deciding if OT was right for me I googled and found quite a few blogs. And other than Karen's blog and 2 or 3 others, most OT student blogs weren't very helpful. I hope to be helpful to those considering OT school and the field of OT. I hear that once school starts it's a little overwhelming and time is tight but I hope to continue writing in this blog as much as possible. This is one of my goals. The online OT community is not very large and I intend to contribute to enhancing it. I wouldn't have to explain OT if more people knew what it was. You never ask a doctor -- 'So, what does a doctor do?'

So, if you just stumbled upon this blog please continue to read it and definitely comment! I hope to provide engaging, interesting info about my experiences and I welcome any conversation! Besides, I'll be cutting open cadavers and looking at their insides. Hopefully, I can share this with all of you (I will have to ask first though, I'm certain this breaks some ethical school rule about privacy, etc...) But anyway, this will be fun! (I hope...)

Enjoy!