I will talk to a hometown friend twice a month on the phone, and listen without offering any advice or solutions. If there is a moment where I want to "fix" their problem I will try to be silent, and see what they decide to say next. I will write a short reflection in my notes app if I was able to stick to empathizing and encouraging therapeutic modes. 

Podcast: Relationships 2.0: What Makes Relationships Thrive

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6SkgmTkaWEXOQckovvwlh6?si=sG8Z0O0dS22R0L5DBIuJ6Q

American Psychology Association: Best Way to Recognize Emotions in Others: Listen

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/10/emotions-listen

Reflection: This goal will always stay relevant. I got the chance to practice it a few times. There are a lot of factors that go into maintaining a therapeutic relationship with a friend who you know quite deeply. I felt that it was easier to stay empathizing rather than fix it when I was better rested, not stressed about my own things, and when I was the one who initiated the conversation. I think I met this goal. The main aspect I wanted to walk away with was awareness of how I show up in hard conversations. I think tracking this in my notes app was a fine way to track this and I will continue to work on it. As I go into my career, I recognize that realistically I will be having to tap into therapeutic modes often when I am exhausted. This goal helps me work on showing up purposefully even when its hard to do so.

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Create at least one goal related to leadership or processing in group dynamic skills.

When conducting my diverse voices interview for foundations class, I will listen to my interviewee without thinking of responses first. To prepare I will listen to a podcast episode on active listening, and will write a small reflection after the interview to see how successful I was in implementing this task. 

https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/are-you-listening/

Reflection: This goal still feels meaningful! I don't feel like I have any level of mastery over it. In some ways I practiced this in the diverse voices interview. There is a fine line between running an interview and staying on track, and trying to practice "listening with intention" and "seeing where the conversation leads you." This feels like a skill that quietly gets stronger as you become attuned to it. By setting this goal, I learned that many of the reasons I tend to prep answers as people are talking are that I want to appear that I know what i'm talking about. Recognizing why I show up in certain ways allows me to address the root of things. A small reflection after the interview was an appropriate way to track this. I will keep working on this goal. As I enter the healthcare field, it is my job to gather full picture medical stories of my clients and intentional listening is a huge part of that.

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Create at least one goal around how you will help yourself be successful in your role as a student (either directly about school performance or about another occupation that will clearly tie-back to supporting your role as a student)

I will listen to an OT podcast or read AJOT article to further my foundational knowledge of the field twice a month. I will write the title on my notes app with one takeaway.

AJOT

https://research.aota.org/ajot

OT After Dark

https://open.spotify.com/show/6HWh1MU1HL4XCdsSuejUpS?si=cd179fe2a2854c53

Occupied

https://open.spotify.com/show/3Zb129QYmM5VIgS2YrrRrF?si=6482572a0c0f4623

ListenABLE

https://open.spotify.com/show/4b9RoU8Um1Tn57t2dL6NNW?si=5050aeab0ba64693

Reflection: This goal still feels meaningful as I want to become a well rounded OT practitioner. I did not meet this goal. Over the past two months, I listened to one OT podcast of my own volition, and it was about a student reflecting on her fieldwork placements. There is a lot of work smushed into this summer semester and honestly, it slipped my mind. I listened to a few podcasts and read many articles assigned in LP's class. I will continue to work on this goal. School is amazing for exposing us to so much literature, but the real work begins outside of graduate school as we continue our education to stay relevant and up to date in our field. I will keep this goal the same, and continue to track it over the years. If clients are working on a similar goal, I would share with them that these little things that we do for ourselves are what make up our being. Though they are not mandatory, they can have a major impact on our personal growth. Self discipline is the greatest form of self love.

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Create at least one goal that pertains to your own health and well-being for the next 3 months (either maintain your health or improve it).

I will set my alarm 30 minutes earlier and actually get up when it goes off so that I can stop rushing through my routine. I will reflect on Friday's how many times I was not rushing out the door and document in my notes app.

NPR: How to wake up early, even if you're not a morning person

http://npr.org/2021/11/02/1051553451/how-to-wake-up-early

Reflection: I succeeded at this goal for about two weeks. Overall, I got to see what it was like to get up and out the door without rushing. I found it was easier to do so when I was driven by the anxiety of a test week. This goal showed me that mornings are tough for me. The later I go to bed, the more likely I am to bargain with myself in the morning hours and sleep for 30 extra minutes. I think tracking is essential to changing the outcome of my performance. I would look at this as a personal goal failure, but now I have experience of how hard it can be to change something as automatic as a morning routine. That is something I can be real with my OT clients about. We are so ingrained to do the same thing everyday, it takes active and continual effort, and monitoring it is essential. I will continue to work on this.

I am grateful for this class and these series of assignments that are allowing us to blatantly see how we show up. There is a lot of power in knowing yourself, especially your weaknesses. I know that I am a strong leader. I am pretty fearless when it comes to new things and I try to maintain a positive attitude. I would like to focus on encouraging others to lead. I am aware that I often have a preferred way of doing things and it would serve me to let go of my expectations of the way I want things to turn out. Having such strong preferences falls in line with being an orange which I find interesting!

• Creating a morning routine & better habits around nighttime social media & scrolling

• Work on managing difficult behaviors in groups

Assignments I enjoyed:

• Health conditions templates

• Morning routine OA activity: put into perspective how my routine is fully dependent on my able-bodiedness

• I loved everything Functional Anatomy

• Cadaver lab

• Interview with an unfamiliar adult

Caring for my mind and body:

This semester started off strong. I moved to a completely new place & had all the time to focus on my good habits. I took a surfing lesson, hiked tumbledown, went to NYC for 18 hours, biked around, ate well, and got all A's in my first semester of grad school.

Went well: exercising, eating good food, had fun!

What slipped: reading, personal hobbies. I cant wait to start a book over break.

Summer semester was a sprint and I ended up making new friends and connections. I really think the only thing that slipped was the way that I spend my free time when I am focusing so much energy on learning. We will see if that changes.

As a practicing OTP, I will attend my state conference every year to build connections with occupational therapists who are doing similar work to me.

2 short-term goals:

• Take a backseat role in a group project 

• Stick to a consistent study schedule, setting time to study more literature around emerging practices in OT. 

I have had a few opportunities to practice leadership across various settings– restaurants, student organizations and recreational sports. Leading has come naturally over the years, but each opportunity allows me to refine and develop into a leader that best serves the group I am a part of. Earlier in my life, I found myself in captain roles on sports teams. My leadership style was to inspire a shared vision in a low stakes environment. In student organizations, leadership looked a lot like advocacy and creating plans to put events into motion. In restaurants, I found my leadership stride asking for feedback on how the other servers felt things were running and trying to make changes that benefited the whole team. 

My LPI yielded fairly equal results across the five practices, with my greatest strength being "enabling others to act.” Today, I think that is an accurate reflection of my leadership style. I am supportive but ultimately want to inspire others to ask for what they want or deserve. As I evolve in the context of this graduate program, I will work to listen and amplify the quieter voices of the group. I intend to also work to try a more hands off approach to leading- letting the group decide the outcome rather than trying to steer it in the direction I want it to go.