Metaphor and meaning in language

Metaphor and Meaning

Getting a doctorate in occupational therapy is like drinking a glass of milk

Someone who bestows occupational therapy often acts as a teacher to his or her clients, but the therapist also learns from the clients about not taking things for granted, like being able to pour a simple glass of milk, and to savor its taste. Studying in graduate school has given me additional intellectual tools as an occupational therapist to conceptualize my work, and to inform my practice. It has given me more hands-on experience and a greater ability to give independence and functionality to my clients. But it has also taught me to understand the profound existential importance of what I am bestowing, however simple. Milk is simple, nourishing, yet unostentatious. It is not fancy or showy. but, like the gifts given by occupational therapy, including an improved sense of mobility and esteem, it is priceless. And like drinking a glass of milk, getting a degree in occupational therapy, for me, as been as vital as life itself.

Gaining my doctorate in occupational therapy has made me appreciate simplicity: simplicity of thought and action, like holding onto a glass. An occupational therapist helps patients perform everyday behaviors most of us take for granted, such as eating, walking, and socially interacting with the world. The therapist might help a patient with a new hip or knee gain a sense of confidence and mobility, by showing the patient and his or her family how to rearrange the elderly individual's home in a more user-friendly fashion. The therapist might help an office worker with severe carpal tunnel syndrome find a more comfortable way of sitting and typing at a computer. The occupational therapist might help a person with a history of mental illness or ADHD establish a routine that allows him or her to go to school, to work, and to live as a functional member of society. And yes, an occupational therapist may teach a patient how to hold a glass of milk and savor that nourishment, as I have savored what I have learned, which is simple yet essential.

Important tasks are often taken for granted, like simple, nourishing milk. These simple physical, psychological, and social components of a healthy life are so vital to all human beings, regardless of their personal limitations and challenges. The most potent metaphor I can conceive of to explain the different facets of human life that occupational therapy may touch is the simple act of reaching for a glass of milk. A healthy adult might take this act for granted.