About to Start

I have no idea if I will have time to keep this up in the next few months, but I'm back for today!

I think I'm going to go ahead and stay with Blogger versus other blog sites because I am familiar with the format, though it seems kind of silly to since I lost my entire blog last year by connecting it to an email account that I deleted. I really doubt I'll be deleting this email account, so maybe we're safe... Anyway, I'm connected to some people on Blogger, so I'll stay here.

I decided to jump on today since I'm going through a transitional time. Next week I start my first internship. An occupational therapy program requires you to pass 2 full-time internships, kinda like how my student teaching was, only for that degree I only needed one. It's been crazy finding out exactly WHERE I'd be going for my first internship. I had TWO placements cancel, which is apparently very rare. Initially, I was preparing to work in an assisted living facility, then I was going to be in a nursing home. After both fell through, I found out last week I will be at a pediatric clinic. Quite a difference right? From preparing to be with older adults to children. But I'm happy with the result, and to finally know where I'm going to be. All my other classmates have known for months so there was a lot of anxiety. All I generally care about is that I get an internship with older adults and one with children so I can see exactly how I feel about taking a job in either of those settings after school. I'm glad I get to kinda test them out before picking where I want to practice long-term.

At this point I'm so ready to be done with this long holiday break. My peers started their internships this week (since I was still waiting to find a new one) and it seems to be very exciting from the snapchats I'm getting. Another reason I'm so ready to be done with break is the horrific smell emanating from the kitchen. Over break it was discovered that we have a leak in the walls of our condo; the floor and under the stove are saturated/moldy/smelly. Get me out of this smelly house! (Preferably before the workers start the work of loudly fixing everything.) Last big thing to put behind me this week- my thesis group is submitting our manuscript for publication this weekend. It's been a lot of hard work and editing. Fingers crossed the journal accepts our article and we get published!

I'll finish with some reminders to myself as I set out into the "real world" of OT practice where I will try to put all of my academic knowledge to clinical use...

1. You don't know what you don't know. Don't expect to know everything going in. You will find out what you should know. Prepare as best you can but be ready to be unprepared for a lot.
2. Make mistakes- it's the best way to learn. We were taught this in school about pediatrics. Kids learn when you allow them to make mistakes (i.e. don't be a helicopter parent). This is true for me too. If I really flub up on something, I will (hopefully) never make that same mistake again. Don't expect to be perfect; the more mistakes you make the better you will be in the future! Every mistake is an opportunity to do better.
3. Be true to yourself and have fun with it. I think when people go through any kind of internship they lose a little bit of themselves by trying to emulate the mentor/supervisor, or trying to be Book Perfect. Ideally, I want what makes me unique to come out and shine. I want to be Kacey, not just Intern. I want my personal traits to be an asset to my therapy. It's a really hard balance when you are trying to model what the mentor is showing you, but I don't want to get lost along the way.

New Blog, Same Name

Starting from scratch over here on this new blog! Over break (first 2 weeks in May) I will actually put effort toward getting this going. Thanks as always loyal readers!