I am Adrianna, a VERY passionate student studying Recreation Therapy. To define Recreation Therapy, it is a health care profession that works with individuals through leisure and recreation, by recognizing that it benefits their health, wellbeing, and quality of life.
I found my passion for recreation at a young age, bouncing from hobby to hobby, becoming very passionate about one thing to the next. Although I loved recreation I did not recognize how much it influenced my life until late in my teen years.
While going to University I went into a deep depression from the stress of school, a new environment, and a lack of fulfilling activities. I found Recreation Therapy in one of my electives called, "Life Leisure and the Pursuit of Happiness." In our textbook, there was ONE paragraph about this occupation and we had a guest speaker (surprise: this guest speaker was my instructor last term). After this class I called my mom crying, explaining that I finally found the right career for me. I then started making the transition to changing my degree. Over the Winter break, I started making the transition to switch to my classes for my new degree. I continued in these classes the following semester and found so much joy and passion for the topics, my favorite class being 'Human Behaviour in Leisure.'
During the summer I continued being passionate about the subject and during the last week of August (less than a week before I was supposed to start classes) I had a deep talk with a relative about the courses not fully applying to my future career and how the degree seemed more like sports management, wondering about other options. After all my classes technically started I was still on vacation and decided that I wanted to switch schools. Unfortunately, the school I wanted to transfer into was full so I ended up taking a year off school where I truly found myself, deepened my passion for leisure/recreation, and felt that I was my most authentic self then I had been before.
I was excited and ready to start this new chapter of my life and my new school. Two weeks into it I decided that I was so passionate about Recreation Therapy that I wanted to share my passion, first creating an Instagram account. I felt in touch with the profession already as this program was fully applicable to my future practice, I found our hands-on learning through simulation labs and assignments were beneficial to my future career. I have since continued to build up my passion, skills, and knowledge about recreation and leisure in school and in my personal life. I recognize the need and importance for recreation and leisure in life, noticing that I was applying many of the concepts to my life and seeing personal improvement.
Through my various platforms, I want to share how I have applied these concepts to my own life and share with you my tips, tricks, and recommendations I have gathered through my journey.
Comments