Identifying Meaningful Occupations & Creating an Action Plan
What is a Meaningful Occupation
These are activities that provide purpose and satisfaction to our life.
They are unique to each individual and are a form of self-care as they help you fulfill your life satisfaction.
Why is Participating in Meaningful Occupations Important
These activities allow you to achieve balance in your life, through participating in these activities you can reduce stress and improve your quality of life.
Similarly, these activities motivate you through their rejuvenating properties which help you be more productive and supportive throughout your day.
You can use the below occupational passport worksheet to discover which occupations you want to complete more often or start completing. Set yourself a goal for each occupation of how often and how long you are going to complete the goal. For example: I will work on my puzzle 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes at a time.
Creating an Action Plan
An action plan helps you create balance in your life by incorporating meaningful occupations into your day. By following your action plan, you can achieve greater balance which is important in reducing stress and improving your mental and physical health.
An action is composed of five steps that will help incorporate meaningful occupations.
- Who Could Help: create a list of individuals that you feel can help you in any kind of way (e.g., supervising your loved one, completing errands, helping with a task at home, assisting with caregiving tasks).
- What Could I Have Help With: select the tasks that are stressful to complete or would allow you to participate in self-care (e.g., going to the grocery store, cooking a meal, taking your loved one to an appointment, daily supervision)
- Who Could Help with The Activities: now create a plan of who could help with those selected tasks. Think about the individuals that you selected and pair them with tasks that they would most likely be able to help with.
- Important: if you feel that no one in your social network could help with a certain task, such as help with bathing; think about hiring a supportive service (such as home care) to assist with the task once a week.
- How to Contact Them: think about what the easiest way for you would be to ask for help from the individuals that you selected (asking in person, via a phone call, email, text, or letter).
- Many individuals find it helpful to create a dialogue when contacting an individual to help the conversation be clearer.
- Goals: lastly, create a goal so that you can set clear expectations and hold yourself accountable.
- Example of a goal: I will ask Jane Doe to help with cooking a meal once a week by calling her within 2 weeks.
If possible, get your loved one involved with asking for help. You could ask together to reduce the stress of the situation or allow each of you to talk about how their support could impact you both greatly.
Consider completing the action plan worksheet below to help you create and achieve your plans.
Learning To Ask for Help
- Asking for help is a learning process, it is not instinctual for many to ask for help.
- Many individuals find it difficult to ask for help as they do not want to be a burden to others.
- However, research has shown that many individuals in your life want to help but are unsure of how to ask or what to help with.
- Since asking for help is a learning process, give yourself grace as you become more comfortable reaching out to others.
- It takes time to feel comfortable to reach out for support.
- Someone may say that they can’t help with a task, but don’t take it personally as they are just setting their boundary.
- But don’t be afraid to ask what they would be able to help with, as they may be more comfortable helping with another task.
Next Page → Social Support
References:
Kiepek, N., Beagan, B., Patten, S., & Ausman, C. (2022). Reflecting on conceptualisations of “meaning” in occupational therapy. Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional, 30, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1590/2526-8910.ctoarf24193156
Bar, M., A., & Jarus, T. (2015). The effect of engagement in everyday occupations, role overload and social support on health and life satisfaction among mothers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(6), 6045–6065. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606045
Sabo, K., & Chin, E. (2021). Self-care needs and practices for the older adult caregiver: An integrative review. Geriatric Nursing, 42(2), 570–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2020.10.013
