"Blissful Ordinariness"

Personally, I am not a person that likes to get out of my comfort zone. When I go into a new situation, the unfamiliarity is sometimes unnerving to me in just not knowing what to expect or not having a game plan for how I am going to tackle whatever the obstacle is in front of me. One of the most recent examples of this for me was when I started my graduate program in occupational therapy. I was in a new city (a very big one I may add), around people I didn't know, staying at a house that wasn't mine, and at the beginning of a journey that was scary/exciting/confusing/every other emotion you can think of. This term of "blissful ordinariness" makes me think of those first couple weeks of school and how I longed to have a routine, a confidence of knowing what I was doing was right, and to just be familiar with where I was and how to live my new day to day life. Thankfully it didn't take long for those days of ordinariness to come my way.

In the field of OT, we have to remember that some clients come to us when their world has been turned upside down. Maybe they can't take care of themselves anymore or they can't even pick up a glass of water to give themselves a drink. Not only has their sense of self-sufficiency went away, but maybe they can't take care of another person that they are responsible for or they can't fulfill a role that gives them a large part of their identity. A lot of times the term "ordinary" is not seen in a positive light, but for people in these situations having an ordinary day would be something that they would welcome with open arms. As future OTs, we will focus on getting back to that specific client's "normal" as close as we possibly can. We look at that person and see what is important to them physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually to help them achieve what is meaningful to them and what serves as part of their identity. Ordinary days can feel to some of us as boring or meaningless, but for those that have had their ordinary taken away I'm sure that they would feel "blissful" to them.