5 years of Not So Terrible Palsy, I can’t believe the platform my blog has given me over the last 5 years. Last year I barely blogged, and although that was through my own choice it caused me mixed feelings. On one hand, it was great to be doing different pieces of work such as speaking at conferences and writing a foreword for the Occupational Therapy and Play Practice Guidelines. Yet, on the other hand, some events had happened throughout the year that any other time I would have loved to have blogged about that I just didn’t find the time to.
Although blogs are few and far between now this blog is still really significant to me and I will never forget the opportunities I’ve had due to my blog over this past 5 years. Therefore, I thought I do a reflection on my time blogging using the Not So Terrible P.A.L.S.Y Reflective Log, which is the reflective log I designed that will sit at the end of each chapter in my book.
My debut book ‘Occupational Therapy, Disability Activism, and Me: Challenging Ableism in Healthcare’ comes out on April 18th 2024 it would mean a lot if you pre-ordered my book! Pre-order here https://linktr.ee/georgiavineot
Anyway, let’s get on with the reflection before you’re falling asleep…
Pausing:
So, for me this I guess is the bit where like at the start of the blog I get a bit gushy because I still can’t believe my spontaneity 5 years ago has got me to where I am today. At times I feel a bit like a fraud, I barely blog these days and I am certainly not the best and most up-to-date on social media, but somehow I still got here. I remember my reflection after the first year of NSTP thinking my blog had already gone above my expectations then my virtual placement happened in 2020 and my blog was being shared internationally and from there it just continued to grow. Like I’ve said that past year hasn’t been my finest but to say this is because I’ve been writing my book is just incredible.
Analysing:
This resonates with me because a lot of the opportunities I’ve had along the way have led me to where I am today and I’m not just talking about my book I am talking about my job at the University of Huddersfield. I was only made aware of my first job at the university through networking at The Occupational Therapy Show in which I was there to talk about my blog. Now, I have progressed to a different job at the university where I am undertaking my teaching certificate in health education. I am certainly not where I imagined myself to be 2 years post-qualifying, but now I love it and could not imagine my career heading in any other direction (although the winter break was most certainly appreciated).
Learning:
From this, I have learned the significance of reflection and how powerful this can be as a tool. Sometimes when I wrote a blog and even now I had no thought process as to where a blog was going to go and it did feel like I was publicly sharing my waffles that made no sense. Especially in the summer of 2021 when I was getting anxious about getting registered and finding a job. But the autumn that followed was the autumn I got contacted about putting my book proposal together! So, a major learning point has been never stop waffling! On a serious note I have learnt so much about myself through my blog, it was my reflections that made me realise that after longing for a ‘traditional’ occupational therapy job I was never made for one anyway. I’ve learnt so much about myself, my disability, and disability rights that have shaped not only my career but my outlook online and future goals.
Solutions:
Thinking about solutions and my plan is hard for me because there’s so much I want to achieve both long-term and particularly the short-term at the minute as we go into the last stretch to this for publication. But the reality of this is that I don’t want to overcommit and exhaust myself, especially whilst I have assignments. Yet, in a way writing this blog has been one of the first solutions, as not only has it given me a chance to write down my feelings its allowed me to be honest. I do have a plan for publication and the lead up but if that doesn’t happen it’s okay I still have to have some occupational balance. I’ll also be honest that the last 4 months of 2023 were incredible for me personally, and it was nice to take more time to myself. Readjusting my occupational balance will take some time but I will get there!
Your Plan:
- To not be as hard on myself and enjoy the lead up to publication day!
- To plan more to try and achieve the goals I want to achieve.
- To have fun, yes, at the moment I have to prioritise university but we all know how important occupational balance is!
- To make this next year of Not So Terrible Palsy one to remember!
I hope this has made sense and wasn’t just another waffle! Thank you for all your support over the past 5 years, here’s to another 5!
Georgia x
Would love you to share a template for using this reflection… I’ve learnt that although you’ve maybe not reflected or written up something significant to you at the time, they do have a habit of resonating and coming back in another way, so you never know, you might yet write about something that happened last year when it’s relevant to something else in the future. I found this recently that something that I’d been meaning to look up and understand better ‘at some point’ when I had time actually came up more naturally for me while on OT placement recently, and it made what I wrote far more useful to reflect on than just to research something that wasn’t directly impacting me at the time.
Wow, what a lovely way to celebrate your 5 year journey- a book release- That’s awesome- and well done for coming this far!!
Hi, of course, the template for the reflection will be available upon publication. Exactly reflecting on the same event at different times can result in something completely different. Yes, I agree at first it can be hard to make time for reflection but once you incorporate reflective practice it’s a powerful tool.
Thank you so much!!