What motivated me to become an OT

Everyone has their own story.  Each person has a history that depends significantly on family, friends and who that person is on an individual basis.  Even though my classmates all share the same goal, we all have various reasons why we want to become occupational therapists.  For me, first and foremost, my parents and siblings motivated me to continue working hard in school.  Each of my siblings has worked hard throughout school and given their best effort no matter the situation.  My mom homeschooled all five of us and, I think we all agree, that was motivation enough to get out of the house!  From my mom, I saw that I did have a certain enjoyment in teaching.  That was actually my first "dream" job.  I liked the idea of facilitating the success of others which is something very important in education.  However, I found myself just a few short years later wanting to become a dentist (I know, kinda random!)  Growing up, I was always the weird kid who loved to go to the dentist.  I liked getting my teeth cleaned, and, if I behaved, receiving a doggy-shaped-balloon.  Money was tight in my family, and so dental appointments were not a regular occurrence.  From this experience, I discovered another passion of mine that wanted to help people by providing affordable healthcare.  So dentistry became my new goal.  It wasn't until my high school basketball experiences that I discovered a profession that combined all my passions.  I had multiple teammates injure their ACLs and have to go to therapy.  While they complained of their annoyingly awful therapeutic sessions, they always mentioned how they felt not only a physical but emotional stability from their therapist.  Injuries are difficult to deal with no matter the extent, and to hear that a therapist could have such an effect in the recovery process was interesting to me.  I thankfully never had to deal with an ACL tear, but I did experience sprained ankles more than once.  Just rolling over in bed was horrible some nights.  I remember one ankle sprain vividly because I had to get up the next morning and work an eight hour shift at Chick-fil-A.  Let's just say it was not fun!  While I felt physically crippled, I also discovered an emotional aspect to my injury that often goes unnoticed to others.  It was then that I realized what my teammates meant by having a therapist provide emotional support.  The more I learned about therapy, the more I loved it!  In some ways, OT is a combination of all my dream jobs.  There definitely exists a teaching aspect in OT whether it means that you are literally teaching someone how to do something or perhaps you are teaching a new and adaptive way to complete an activity.  You also grow with your client in the emotional battles faced during recovery.  Together, you are a team fighting for a meaningful life and the ability to attain it.  As far as the dental thing and affordable healthcare goes, I don't really know how that will look for me.  What I do know is that I desire to help others because each individual ought to have the ability to live a life meaningful to that person, and you cannot put a price tag on that.