Chapter 7. How Life Changes When We Change Not the Person, but Their Activities and Environment.
There is a moment in rehabilitation when the usual question begins to sound slightly strange. A person says, “I need to get stronger,” or “I need to become more independent,” or sometimes simply, “I need to get back to normal.” The expectation is almost always directed toward the person. The body should become stronger. The […]
Chapter 6. What an Occupational Therapist Notices Before the Person Does.
People usually come to an occupational therapist with a problem that has already acquired a name. The shoulder hurts. The hand has become weak. Walking takes too much effort. Dressing has become difficult. Work is exhausting. There is trouble concentrating, sleeping, cooking, getting through the morning without needing to lie down. The person has usually […]
Chapter 5. Why Rest Does Not Always Restore Energy.
There are evenings when a person finally gets what they have been waiting for all day. The door is closed. The phone is somewhere nearby but, for once, nobody is calling. There is food in the kitchen, the work is over, and there is nothing that absolutely has to be done in the next ten […]
Chapter 3. The Environment as a Hidden Source of Exhaustion.
There are rooms that make you tired before you have done anything in them. I do not mean this metaphorically. You enter, sit down, look around, and something in the body has already started working. The light is too sharp. A chair does not quite support you. Someone is speaking from another room. A door […]
An Occupational Therapist’s Perspective: Sometimes It Isn’t Work That Drains Us. It’s the World We’ve Learned to Live In
For a long time I believed people when they told me why they were exhausted. They usually had an answer ready before I even asked. “It’s my job. I never have enough time. My life has become too busy.” The explanation always sounded reasonable. Sometimes almost rehearsed, as though it had already been repeated dozens […]
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