Melody’sOccupational identity

Component 1- Part 2:

DancerI have been training in dance since the age of 4 and it is a big part of who I am and my identity. Dancing is a meaningful occupation to me as I love the feeling of putting in all the hard hours training then being able to perform for other people, also provide them with satisfaction from watching. It is also meaningful to me due the large amount of free time spent with other dancers that enabled us to form very close friendships. Dancing was embedded in my daily routine growing up and only stopped once moving to Dunedin due to study priorities. But I still consider it to be one of my main sources of identity and my flat mates always catch me practicing around the flat.

SisterI have been a sister as long as I can remember to my younger brother. We are the only two sibling in our family so we have a great influence on each other. Being a sister is meaningful to me because my brother is an important part of my life and being a good role model will influence the way he grows up. Me and my brother participate in a lot of occupations together our lives resolve around similar roles and routines so for that reason it has been embedded in my daily occupational identity.

SingerSinging was a huge part of my life growing up spending a lot of my free time training from ages 7-17. I was brought up with music being a huge part of my life. Me, my dad, brother, two cousins, and granddad would often have a jam together at family functions. My older cousin on the drums, my dad, brother and granddad on the guitars and me and my younger cousin would often find ourselves singing. This made signing more meaningful to me as it was a way to socially connect with my family in a unique way. After finding my love and passion for singing I took up training and began entering competitions, and singing at local events and in churches. This meant singing was very embedded in my routine through out my school years. I do not sing publicly anymore but it is still meaningful to me in the respect that I still am able to do it with my family.

Musical TheatreMusic theatre is something that is unique to me that helped to shape who I am today, enabling me to be the confident person I am. I started off my passion for musical theatre during my first ever school production. I remember all of my friends would dread going to rehearsals but I couldn't’ wait to get on the stage. After finishing my first school production and realizing this was someone who I wanted to become and participate in more I enrolled at a musical theatre summer training school and joined my local musical theatre club. Musical theatre had a lot of rehearsal time so it meant things in my routine where compromised but I was okay with that because I knew this was an occupation I seen my self doing in the future and wanted to keep doing because it was of value and worth to me.

Netball Netball has been apart of my life since I first started playing at age 5. Netball is a meaningful occupation to me as I enjoy the social connections you make within a team, and I am also very competitive. I value netball because it is a good way to exercise with friends and it allows you to work as a team, to grow and to improve. I am still playing netball today but in two different social teams. Today I find I still value the aspect of the social connections that netball brings to my life and that I am able to identify myself as part of their team.

MotocrossMotocross is a huge part of my families life. I have been brought up riding and participating in the experiences of motocross with my family for example we would often spend weekends together down the river riding. My brother was a competitive motocross rider and was top 3 in the south island, so many of my weekends where spent tided to this occupation and having to travel New Zealand to go support and watch him race. My parents also own a motorbike shop and have since I was 8. So I spent most of my time growing up around them and also working in the shop with them. Motocross is meaningful to me because it is a unique sport to me and I can experience it with my family, but we all can a different sense of entitlement from the sport.

Flat mateBeing a flat mate is an occupational role that I value because I have established amazing friendships with my other flat mates. I value that we all identify as each others flat mates but we are all unique and bring something special to the house hold. Being a flat mate is of worth to me because we are all very much dependent on each other when it come to our roles and routines of being in a flat e.g. cooking and cleaning. Being a flat mate is a new role that makes up my identity. But is big part of my daily routine as I now spend every day with them. Being a flat mate is meaningful to me because I have created such great relationships with every one of my flat mates.

GYM The gym has become a new occupation that makes up my daily routine and identity. The gym has become meaningful to me in the past year as I have found it makes me happy and I made strong connections to other people who value the gym in the same way, for example my friends pictured here and also my boyfriend. The gym is of worth to me because it has a positive impact on my health and well-being. The aspects about the gym that I value is the group class sessions allowing for social connections to be made, and that I am able to push myself to be “the best me I can be”. Whether I am gyming alone or going with others it has become apart of my daily routine and embedded in who I am as a person.

StudentBeing a student is one of my main occupational identities at this stage in my life and has been a main source of my identity since the age of 5. Being a student is meaningful to me because it is going to enable me to become the occupational being I see myself as in the future, e.g. a qualified occupational therapist. Many of my roles and routines are established around being a student, and studying takes up a majority of my day. Being a student has helped shaped the person I am today, and a lot of my social connections have been established through being a student.

GuitarAs you can tell from this photo the guitar has been a big part of my life since I can remember. It is an occupation I can share with my father, grandfather and brother which makes the guitar meaningful to me. I value that the guitar as it provides me with a way of expressing myself through the songs I chose to play. I like that the guitar can be experienced as an individual occupation and also as a group for example in a band. My dad thought me and my brother how to play the guitar which helped me to establish a strong connection with both of them socially. I value that by playing the guitar it can bring joy not only to my own life but others as well.