Holla friends! This week I've practiced for another hour. Though it was broken into 20 minute breaks at the end of my day when all brain power to do serious cognitive functions had fizzled. My daughter officially know the words to Three Little Birds, so there's that? She refers to it as the song about the birds. I have noticed that each time I picked up the guitar my muscle memory for chords grew stronger. It takes a sustained 30 minutes with the guitar to have faster chord transitions but the chords themselves are fairly strong. A, D, E. What else can I play with those chords? I feel the stress of a busy week this Sunday and I know my motivation to practice this week will be weak :) But maybe once Thursday rolls around I will have time. I find that this occupation takes the time I would usually spend doing yoga/meditation. That is disappointing because I know I get a lot more mentally/ emotionally physically from those practices but it's hard to find time for everything!
Learning to play the guitar fits differently into the various definitions of occupation Hasselkus lists. In regards to Clark et. al.'s definition of "the ordinary and familiar things that people do every day" I'd say that playing the guitar is the least familiar part of my day lately. But it is ordinary in that our culture would recognize it and apply meaning to it. According to Yerxa, occupation is "engagement in self-initiated, self-directed, adaptive, purposeful, culturally relevant, organized activity." For me, this occupation still derives its initiation from external sources (school). Is it organized? It doesn't seem to be. I have little structure around the practice and just commit time when it seems appropriate and free and I play what interests me, not any sort of prescribed lesson (although I have access to a lesson book if I feel like working in a more structured way). I wasn't sure what Yerxa meant by adaptive. I looked up the word and the OED suggests "fitting, or well-suited to someone" which I think makes the most sense in this case. I buy it. It fits me. I'm going to skip Femke and Clark's definition cause it really has no meaning to me. I'm going to address the definition give my Law, Polatajko, Baptiste, and Townsend though. I appreciate the part of the definition that includes the social component. "Occupation is everything people do to occupy themselves, including looking after themselves, enjoying life, and contributing to the social and economic fabric of their communities (productivity). This definition comes close to describing the why of occupations in my life. I recently began to notice that I don't engage in occupations unless I see a benefit to my family. For example, I engage in yoga because I derive emotional regulation from it as well as physical benefits (hopefully longevity) and these are things I do for myself by also largely for my children and husband, friends and family. I engage in so many occupations with the hope or goal of community, social engagement, and finding my role in this world.
Playing the guitar is a doing but not a being for me yet. I am not a "guitar player." It is a becoming in that I see the potential benefit and potential abilities in myself. Finally, it has the potential to create belonging in the way that I described above. I see this greater benefit of the occupation being creating a space for family time, or further, using the guitar in playing mantras in a yoga class. These goals revolve around a social component of creating a social experience. If I was sick and needed an occupation to lift me up and help me do, be become and belong, I'd still pick yoga. In a heart beat. It defines so much of my life. Playing the guitar, not so much. But maybe it could work itself up the ladder to a higher rung in meaning in my life. Not there yet. Maybe next week.
