My Experience of Midterms
I’m not sure what to write about as I was unable to complete my presentation for midterms and due to a whole load of difficulties, I handed my case study in late so I haven’t received feedback upon which I can speak.
If I look at everything leading up to midterms both in a personal and professional manner it all seemed so hard. Personally, everything about fieldwork was emotionally, physically and mentally draining… at some point I just felt like a mobile zombie and my supportive circle could not be there because everyone had their own through their own motions, but I’ve learnt that that is not an obstacle but rather a stepping stone to get you to seek help beyond those that are around you and preoccupied.
In the same way, I have realised that there are many gaps in my ability to assess a client therefore I’ve taken the task up to fill these, but I am doing it one step at a time because I cannot revise my entire OT2 Physical Block in a few days with all the other work I currently have. As one of my lecturers beautifully put it: “In order to get better, you have to start by owning your lack of knowledge” (Thank you @ Mrs C). I’ve taken time to go through the resources my supervisor has given us and the feedback she has given us over the weeks and also identified where I need to improve on small discrepancies.
As OT students, I think we need to understand that we are still learning and as much as we want to be perfect so that we can provide the best services and see improvement in our clients, we will never be perfect as there is always more that one can learn. We shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves and maybe by doing so, difficulties will become an opportunistic challenge to grow our knowledge and interventions.
This is the mentality which I will use in the weeks to come. We all have good days and bad days but if you look at all the critique you’ve been given, acknowledged and are working towards filling gaps in the things you do not know and seek help when you are unable to do this alone then you’re well on your way to turning those bad days into better days and becoming an OT that you can be proud of because that’s what matters most!
Below are 3 sites that I found useful with identifying my problem of anxiety, how to cope with it and also how to receive constructive criticism so that it helps you rather than stunts your growth:
Schlossberg, M. (2017). 13 signs it’s time to get help for your anxiety. Retrieved March 28, 2019, from https://www.redbookmag.com/body/mental-health/g13445934/help-for-anxiety/
Arden Coaching. (2014). Ten tips on accepting feedback gracefully. Retrieved March 26, 2019, from https://ardencoaching.com/ten-tips-accepting-feedback-gracefully/
SkillsYouNeed (n.d). Dealing with stress. [online] available at https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/stress-tips.html (Accessed March 25, 2019)
