The rubber hit the road

When I had my first daughter the hospital required I watch a few parenting videos before I left with her to make sure I knew the basics of caring for an infant. I appreciated that they cared and took the information, along with all that I had gleaned in my 23 years and went home with my baby. Everything was great until I found one key piece of information that had never occurred to me and no one had prepared me for. My vehicle would never. be. the. same. As my baby got older the carpets of my car were introduced to barf, milk, juice, and every kind of snack that can be crushed into a soft surface. I finally wised up and purchased rubber mats for my car and have never looked back. When I got my current car that was the first thing I bought after I got the keys. My rubber mats got a spa treatment this week!

Supplies were very simple this time, dish soap and a scrub brush. I had a skinny brush that was able to get in all the small spaces in the rubber mats. 

I scrubbed the mats, sprayed them off and left them to dry in the sun. I took the opportunity to vacuum out my car really well while the mats were out of the way. 

Before 

                                                                               After

Did you know that rubber comes from trees? It's true!

I found thinking about self-determination, motivation, and autonomy really interesting both to my chosen occupation and to vehicle ownership in general. Many people have very strong feelings about what make and model of car they think is best. I have always had great experiences with Toyotas'. The things I care most about in a car is that it's reliable and gets good gas mileage but others might have strong feelings about the color or speed of their car. I have the choice to get the kind of car I think is best while my neighbor across the street chooses to drive a big truck so he can pull his trailer for work. The reasons we decide to drive the specific cars we do depends on our past experience, economic opportunity and personality.

I think the kind of car we drive has more to do with choice but the way we experience our car is a decision. What kind of music we play, who rides in it, the conversations we engage in, and how we take care of it are all part of our autonomy in vehicle ownership. 

Reference

Tracey Parnell, Gail Whiteford & Clare Wilding (2019) Differentiating occupational decision-making and occupational choice, Journal of Occupational Science, 26:3, 442-448, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2019.1611472 

"Oiling and Lotioning, Lotioning and Oiling. I can't take this no more!"

 10 points for whoever can name the movie the title of this blog comes from. This week I worked on conditioning the leather seats in my car. I found a product that would both clean and hydrate the material which is not real leather but "Softex", a synthetic composite. I learned that this material is more resistant to cracking and fading than leather but still needs to be maintained to keep it looking at its best. The supplies I needed this week were Gold Class Leather Cleaner and Conditioner (another Meguiars product) and a rag.  

I knew my seats needed to be vacuumed but since they're black and didn't look dirty I was surprised by how much came off on the rag after cleaning them. Again, this project was straightforward, I sprayed the product on the rag and coated all the leather surfaces. I did put some muscle behind it since I was cleaning the seats as well. My only complaint about Meguiar's products is the fragrance. Artificial fragrances give me a head ache and I don't think they're needed. Most people prefer to buy air fresheners for their car with the fragrance they want. 

Before

After

It's difficult to see the results in the pictures but I can tell that consistently using a conditioning agent for my seats is going to keep them from looking dull and will protect them from being as susceptible to rips and tears as my vehicle ages. 

Wendy Peffercorn would be so proud. 

This week I let stress get the best of me. I prioritized family and school and everything else slipped a little....my car included. I still worked on it and took it to discount tire when the notification light came on that my tire pressure was low but it didn't stay as clean this week. My sense of occupational well-being wasn't as strong as it has been previously when I was proud of the progress I had made and maintained. 

However, I do think it's important to recognize what we prioritize in life. I get to choose when certain occupations take the back burner and others are given more time. It's most important to me to give my best to school and my kids right now. If we think about the hours we have in a day and the occupations we engage in, we can rank them in order of importance to make sure we are giving the most time and effort to what we value most. As we do, some occupations may be neglected or forgotten at least for a time, which may shift our identity. What's important is recognizing when our well-being is affected and adjustments can be made to realign our priorities. While car cleaning and organization is great, part of me is wishing I had picked something active like boxing or yoga so that an occupation that is part of my identity could also be homework. I guess this tells me where I need to shift my occupations to make time for activities that improve my well-being!

Reference 

Hasselkus, B. R., & Murray, B. J. (2007). Everyday occupation, well-being, and identity: The experience of caregivers in families with dementia. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61, 9–20.

Bumper Makeover

For my second post I'm sharing about restoring the plastic on the exterior of my car. I'd like to state upfront that Meguiar's is not sponsoring this post. I was just a big fan of the product I used so I'm going to be complimentary of it. I only needed two items for this project. Meguiar's Ultimate Black and a rag. 

I was amazed at the low effort and time commitment compared to the results I had. All that was needed was applying some of the Ultimate Black to the rag, coating the plastic surfaces on the car and buffing off any residual product. This treatment is meant to restore any non painted surface on the exterior of a car, increase shine, and is also a UV protectant. 

I was so impressed with this before and after. The treatment is meant to last a few weeks through rain or washing. This is a detailing trick I will continue to take time to do in the future, when it's needed. 

One factor that had a hand in helping me choose my new occupation was that I was worried about some areas of my life getting neglected as I began graduate school (I say as I contemplate the three loads of clean laundry sitting on the couch waiting patiently to be folded). Keeping my life organized and my spaces clean is important to me and some days more people see the inside of my car, than the inside of my house. I think I do have part of my identity wrapped up in my productivity and ability to successfully juggle all the balls I have up in the air at this time in my life. 

I was interested in the idea of self-concept as being how we view ourselves and look forward to the day that I can proudly and confidently say I am someone who has a clean car. As this becomes part of my ongoing identity I wouldn't worry about someone needing a ride unexpectedly because the habits to keep my vehicle pristine would become more automatic and habitual. 

I can say that my choice of new occupation had some need for social approval attached to it. From lecture we learned that this could create a level of self esteem that would be tied to having someone appreciate my clean car. There's a reason why car detailing shorts get so many views on social media. Everyone loves a clean vehicle and there are few things more embarrassing to me than needing to fling wrappers and gym clothes into the backseat to make room in the passenger seat to give a friend a lift.

In the article we read this week we learned about occupational biographies and how our identities evolve over time through planned and unplanned events. In lecture we learned that our experiences are on a continuum. The "space" of my vehicle has meant many things to me as a kid, young adult, new mom, and now as I'm attending college. I can see how my past, present, and future efforts, and the amount of effort I have put into the occupation has changed over time and will continue to do so, thus a part of my identity will change as well. 

References 

Ruth Kjærsti Raanaas, Anne Lund, Unni Sveen & Mona Asbjørnslett (2019) Re-creating self-identity and meaning through occupations during expected and unexpected transitions in life, Journal of Occupational Science, 26:2, 211-218, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2019.15920112.

Wax on, Wax off

After learning about the assignment to start a new occupation and in line with our goal to be self reflectors to be good therapists I realized I love a new hobby or I now know to call them occupations. However, the thought of coming up with a new craft or sport to learn while starting grad school made me feel panicky. I found a great alternative that I'm looking forward to learning about, needs to be done, and brings me joy when I do it and get to enjoy the results. 

This semester I'm learning about car detailing. Car detailing is the process of cleaning and restoring the interior and exterior of a vehicle to as close to like new condition as possible. I found that aside from my desperate attempts of keeping my vehicle free of gold fish crackers, smelly soccer cleats, and gum wrappers I hadn't spent much time focusing on the aesthetic upkeep of my car. I just had the opportunity to trade in my trusty Honda Odyssey for a Toyota Highlander that I love so I'm excited to learn how to take better care of it. 

These are the supplies I used to detail my windshield. I used WD-40 to recondition and clean the rubber on my windshield wipers. I washed my windshield really well then applied and buffed off butter wax to make the glass hydrophobic so the water beads off and the windshield wipers are more effective. 

Just waiting on a good rain storm so I can see how well this worked. It looks pretty though!

One thing I appreciate about the occupation I ended up choosing is that the place (my car) as Delaisse, Hout, and Veronis presented is always with me. If I have 15 minutes I can go out to my garage and do a quick project to work on my new occupation. However in terms of space, I have already become much more sensitive to the work I am putting in getting ruined. When my kids eat in the car or leave their day's worth of possessions I am much more annoyed about cleaning them up after working hard to make the car look nice. As far as my car being a "container for experiences" I value having a car that looks nice as I drive my kids around, have important conversations with family or friends in it, or take some much needed alone time to decompress after a long day. I realized a car can become a home away from home. I never regret taking the extra time I have to keep it cleaner and to start learning about ways to make it look its best. 

References

Delaisse, A.-C., Huot, S., & Veronis, L. (2020). Conceptualizing the role of occupation in the production of space. Journal of Occupational Science, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2020.1802326