Cooking

My chosen activity for this post is cooking; I will explain what cooking means to me personally and as a future occupational therapist.

What cooking means for me personally...

Learning to cook at a young age is very important in my culture. Of course, once I learnt to cook, I found that to be a tedious task especially when it was my turn to cook. As I grew older¸, I acquired the drive to expand my horizon in terms of the types of dishes that I wanted to learn.  I was motivated to eat healthy, therefore my favorite past became searching for recipes in the internet. Learning a new recipe and making a dish out of it gave me a great sense of accomplishment. I found that my experience of cooking completely changed my outlook of engaging in such an activity. I found that I enjoyed myself more and found nothing tedious about it except on the days when I was not in the mood :)

What does cooking mean for me as a future OT?

As an occupational therapist, helping clients engage in their meaningful activities will be a priority. The task of making a meal will help in building rapport with clients¸ I feel that sharing my experiences and feelings while engaging in this activity is something that both the client and I can appreciate. One of the lessons I learnt in my fieldwork from my supervisor is that clients feel more comfortable with a therapist who shares a bit of themselves with them; of course, I know there are limitations to that but when it comes to this everyday activity, it is definitely something that I can share.

Words that I use to describe this activity are:

Relaxing

Fulfilling

Healthy

Satisfying

Life

Sustenance

Cultural

What will help me engage in cooking?

• Clean and safe environment – kitchen
• Having all the ingredients and recipe
• Being in a good mood – being mindfully conscious of what I am doing.
• Cooking for others.

What will hinder me engaging in cooking?

• Dirty and unsafe environment.
• Not having all the necessary ingredients.
• Feeling unwell or not being in a good mood.