Occupational therapy focuses on real tasks that matter in daily living. My therapist taught me safer ways to dress, bathe, cook, and work. I learned how to set up my home so every task used less energy and put less strain on the parts of my body that were still healing. Simple tools like reachers, adaptive cutting boards, long handled sponges, and grip strength devices came from OT. These small changes made home life smoother and far safer.
As someone who typed most of my life, losing that ability overnight was a shock. You cannot prepare for it. You accept it, then you learn. Luckily, occupational therapists exist for exactly this. They help you rebuild the parts of life that make you independent. Their goal is not just recovery. Their goal is function. They look at how you live, how you work, and what you need, then build a plan around that.
That means making changes at home. Some adjustments are small. Some feel big. For example, I love to cook, but my right hand will not let me hold a fork and cut a steak the way I used to. I had to adjust my expectations and focus on what was realistic at that stage of therapy. Tools helped. Adaptive kitchen gear helped me stay safe and still enjoy the process. In a future post, I will list some of the products that worked well for me, because simple tools can make a huge difference.
One of the best lessons I learned is to keep your OT tools out where you can see them. If they are tucked away in a closet, you forget about them. When they are in front of you, they remind you to keep working. For me, that means leaving my grip strength ball where I walk past it. It means keeping the target I point to when practicing shoulder control within sight. These small visual cues help you stay consistent, which is where real progress comes from.
Communication with your OT is key. Tell them how you actually live. Tell them your daily routines, your work, your hobbies, and the tasks you want to get back. They build therapy around your real life, not around a generic list of exercises. If you do not speak up, they cannot design the best plan for you.
Also be honest about where people might be helping you too much. For example, I live in Mexico now. Dishwashers are not common here, so all dishes are washed by hand. I could pay someone to do this twice a week. It would be easy. But I choose to do it myself most of the time because it forces me to use both arms and both hands. Real tasks build real strength. Are there days when it feels like too much. Yes. But doing the work pays off later.
There will be times when progress stalls. There may be moments when you wonder if a specific function will ever return. I am not sure where I stand on a few things myself. But I keep trying. That mindset matters. Recovery rewards persistence.
Tell your therapist everything that is going on in your life, everything you want to get back, and everything you are struggling with. And do not be afraid to ask them to push you. Good therapists know how far they can go. They also know when to pull back.
Occupational therapy gives you a path toward independence, one task at a time. If you stay honest, stay steady, and stay involved, it can change your life in ways that feel small day to day but huge when you look back. Keep going.
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