Blog Post 9

Update: 

    This week I've worked on my blanket some more, I finally finished the skien of yarn I have been working on for the past few weeks and started on my next one. I also spent some time taken apart skeins of yarn and making them into a ball because they tend to get into knots if left the way they came. I don't like dealing with the knots while I am crocheting because it takes me out of my flow, so even though it takes more time to take it apart and roll it together it makes it easier and I tend to get more done when I do it. 

MAC Model:

    Looking at The Meaning and Attentional Components model through the lens of my new occupation I think that is falls under G which is interest (low boredom). I think that it falls under this section of the model because it has both a high meaning and high-level engagement. When I am crocheting I am very engaged in what I am doing because it is easy to make mistakes when you don't pay attention to it especially if it's still pretty new. It also has a high meaning to me because I am not only making this blanket for someone else, it allows me reminisce in the past when my aunt first taught me the easiest stitch. I think without the high meaning that crochet has it would just be a pass time and I would eventually get bored of it.  

Boredom:

      Boredom impacts my occupational choices a little differently than it used to. When I was a kid and I was bored I would find something else to do, like playing outside, reading a book, playing with my dogs, and other things like that. Now when I am bored instead of doing things like that I will either push through the boredom because I have to get it done, or I will scroll through my phone endlessly. Starting up this new occupation has helped me find something new to do when I am bored. Lately when I get bored doing homework or scrolling through my phone I start to crochet instead and I can find myself doing it for hours without getting bored of it. 

Blog Post 8

Update: 

    I was able to do a little bit more work on my blanket. I am about halfway through my 4th skien of yarn and I plan on finishing it this week and moving onto my 5th. This blanket will take around 10 skeins of yarn so I really need to get moving to finish it by the end of the semester. 

Sense Of Occupational Well-Being: 

    Looking at my occupation to determine if it is facilitating my sense of occupational well-being or hindering it, I feel that it does both depending on when I am doing it and what's going on outside of it. The two factors that go with occupational well-being, occupational performance and occupational engagement help determine how my occupational well-being actually is. There are times when my occupational performance isn't great, like when I mess up stitches or loose out of how many I have done. But, when I'm doing good I start to feel better about myself and it help facilitate that senes of occupational well-being. Looking at occupational engagement I sometimes forgetting what this project it about and I feel like I have to keep doing it so that I can get a good grade instead for myself. At the beginning of the semester I decided I would give it to my younger brother as a gift, having this mentality has helped me engage more in my occupation because I am doing it for someone else to. I think that the more I continually engage and perform this occupation it will continue to help facilitate my sense of occupational well-being. 

Seven Occupational Needs:

    The seven occupational needs that are associated with occupational well-being are accomplishment, affirmation, agency, coherence, companionship, pleasure, and renewal. Looking at them through the lens of my occupation I think can both contribute and hinder my occupational well-being. The majority if the occupational needs help contribute to my occupational well-being like the sense of accomplishment, by making little goal and achieving them it pushes me to keep going, affirmation encourages me because other people see what I am doing and it reassures me that it was a good choice, and renewal because it allows me to escape the world for a little while and focus on myself. The one that might hinder my occupational well-being is companionship because I know that I wouldn't get anything accomplished if I were with others because my focus would be elsewhere.

Blog Post 7

 Update: 

    This week I haven't done the best at keeping up with my occupation, I've been pretty busy and constantly on the go. I have done maybe one to two rows, but nothing that is super noticeable. Hopefully this next week I will get back into the rhythm of it and with come close to finishing a skein of yarn or finishing another one. 

Identity Formation: 

    Last week someone commented a different perspective about making crocheting a part of my identity. I hadn't thought about it before because it was something that I was starting as a  just cause and didn't really think it was apart of my identity. Your identity isn't just one thing that defines you but a collection of the different parts of your personality that creates you. To me I see crocheting fitting in with the creative/explorative side as well as my quiet side. Crocheting allows me to try new things like different stitches and patterns, it provides me with "quiet time" when I am feeling overwhelmed with noise. I feel like I didn't really think about my occupational identity when choosing crocheting as a new occupation I think it has played more of a role in affecting the implementation of crocheting itself. Choosing to follow a pattern out of my knowledge when I could have also chosen an easier pattern or stitch allowed me to explore and be creative to try something new.  

Occupational Biography: 

    Our occupational biography connects with our self-identity as we create and recreate it. Our biography is constantly changing, it's an ongoing process where we are interpreting ourselves through the environment we are in. I think that self-identity an occupational biography play a role in my chosen occupation because I am changing the way I see myself. I am not the most creative person and crocheting has helped me become more creative and helped me explore other occupations that I have ended up enjoying.

Blog Post 6

Update: 

    This week I finished another skein of yarn, I've got a total of three done now. I feel like it's coming along, I did realize I was going to have to do more than just a couple rows if I want to get this done by the end of the semester. I have really started to enjoy this pattern and I am no longer having to go back and recount every stitch to make sure it's correct. I hoping to have another skien of yarn done by next week. 

The blanket is folded in half  because it was too long for the camera

Transactional Nature: 

    Looking at transactional nature between me and my new found occupation of crocheting I feel that it has been improving. I've been using crocheting as a stress relief to remove myself from a situation while doing something productive. It also helps me feel a little more at home in a place I haven't been for long because it brings back good memories. 

Self-knowledge, Self-esteem, Self-perception, and/or Self Awareness: 

    For this week I feel that self-esteem and self-awareness all played role in helping me choose this occupation. I had already had some prior knowledge of crocheting beforehand, but it was the simple aspects like how to begin a chain as well as a single stitch, I had no idea what other kind of stitches there were. Self-esteem played a role because of the prior knowledge I had even though it wasn't much, I pretty much told myself that I could do it and had nothing to worry about because even if I were to mess up I could take it out and retry it. Self-awareness played a role in it too because I knew that reflecting on what I had done, my thoughts during the process, and emotions throughout would help be better develop my skills and look at it in a bigger picture. 

Servant, Recruiter, and Mirror: 

    Looking at a perspective of occupation as a servant, crocheting is a lot of doing and fills quite a bit of time. It has brought about meaning since I started crocheting because of the past I've had with it. Looking at it in the perspective of recruiter, crocheting doesn't have the most benefits and can contribute to back pain, sometimes arthritis in the wrist and fingers due to the constant movement of the two. But, it is also a good release of tension on a bad day because it takes a lot of focus. Looking at is in the perspective of a mirror, I feel that I am still working on that aspect because it's something I define myself with, if it was something that I would continuously do it would be a little different. 

Blog Post 5

Update: 

    This week I decided I needed to put a little more work into my blanket to make up from the previous week. I ended up finishing my second skein of yarn and started with my third, it's starting to finally look like something other than some yarn. I am getting less frustrated with myself then I had been in previous weeks and I have found that it has become easier the more that I am engaging in this occupation. I'm still working on my tension, I had to restart a row or two because I started to get too tight as some point. I'm hoping that the more I practice I won't have to think to much about my tension and it will become natural. 

Heres an updated picture of where I am currently at 

Flow: 

    After reading more about flow I found it a lot easier to understand than my prior knowledge. I have definitely experienced flow quite a few times, I think its because when I am doing something I try to put all my focus into it and forget about what's going on around me. The biggest one I've noticed looking back would be when I was at dance practice, I would lose time and when I finally noticed I realized that hours had gone by. I think it was the majority of those practices that it would happen we would go from 4 to 10 and no one would realize it until our parents walked in. Another time that I have experienced for would be when I was playing pickle ball a few weeks ago. It wasn't only because of what I was doing I think it was because of the people I was with. We ended up playing for a few hour with only the intention of staying one. We weren't really focused on the time and the next thing we knew we had already been playing for a few hours. I feel that I experience flow at least once a week and I find it nice because I'm not worried about the time, what else needs to be done for the day, or worrying about other things.   

Potential for flow: 

    This week was very beneficial for me regarding flow, I feel that I was able to get into flow for a little while while engaging in my occupation. I ended up working on my blanket for about 4 hours on Saturday without even realizing it, I only noticed when I decided to take a break for a minute after I had saw my tension getting tighter and needed to fix that area. I think that any occupation has the potential to create an experience of flow no matter how challenging it may be. I feel that the more I practice and work on my tension, the better I will become and the chances of flow occurring will be more likely. Once I get it down I won't be worried whether or not I need to restart a row to fix the problem. 

Autotelic Personalities: 

    Looking at autotelic personalities, people do things for their own sake rather than to achieve a goal, it's for the experience. I personally think it depends on what I am doing somethings I only do because there is an end goal that I am trying to reach I'm not doing it for my own experience. There are things that I do just to experience it instead of reaching towards a goal, but I think it depends on the situation when you're trying to "attract" flow. I think that autotelic personalities have the potential to reach the state of flow especially if they are enjoying it and they are doing it for the experience. I think in my experience if I am doing something for the experience and I am enjoying myself I find it easy to experience flow. Using flow as a motivator I believe that by choosing the occupations that I enjoy will allow me to fully experience flow and not worry about the end goal if there  is one.