Blog Post #6 - Macrame and Influence of Self
Transactional Nature of Making Macrame
During lecture this week, we discussed the transactional nature of occupation and the self. Namely, this idea refers to the ways in which the self and occupation shape and influence each other. Your sense of self impacts the occupations you choose, and engaging in these occupations then in turn shapes who you are as a person. This idea has also been described by Carlson et al. (2014) who have concluded that "occupation does not emerge out of the individual, but is a transaction that joins the individual and the situation" (p. 119). For my new occupation of making macrame, the transactional nature of occupation applies because I view myself as being a person with creative interests and hobbies. Since a young age, I've always been interested in creative occupations and took classes in high school on drawing, pottery, and mixed-media art. This led me to wanting to choose a new creative occupation to engage in for this course, since I felt it was something I could enjoy amidst a busy semester and that I could be relatively successful at. As I have been making different macrame projects, this has strengthened the sense of self I have which leads me to believe I am a creative person.
The "Selves"
For this section, the "selves" I am referring to include self-awareness, self-esteem, self-knowledge, and self-perception. This section will explore how each concept has influenced my decision to make macrame as my new occupation to this semester.
As discussed in class, self-awareness refers to the awareness we have and reflection of our own actions and values. Overall, the characteristics which make up self-awareness contribute to our personal idea of who we are. Self-esteem refers to how we value the things which make up our self-awareness and whether we think our actions are good or not (i.e., our perception of our abilities). Self-knowledge informs who you are as a person through the information you use to explain who you are. Lastly, self-perception is the conclusion we reach about ourselves from putting all of this information together to determine who we are based on attitudes, feelings, values, and behaviors. As mentioned earlier, I decided to choose making macrame as my new occupation because my self-awareness tells me that I am a creative individual. My self-esteem led me to believe this was a new occupation I could accomplish based on my abilities to complete creative projects in the past, and I believed my abilities could contribute to this new occupation as well. Regarding self-knowledge, my husband had offered to teach me the foundations of Magic the Gathering as my new occupation, or for me to join his Dungeons and Dragons campaign with his buddies. However, because I know that I'm not typically the type of person to enjoy those types of occupations, I decided to go the creative route instead (not that these aren't great options for those who do enjoy these hobbies - my husband definitely enjoys them!). My self-perception is a combination of all of these "self" aspects, as I conclude that I am creative, I believe in these creative abilities, and I would choose a creative occupation over other types of occupations.
Servant, Recruiter, and Mirror
Carlson et al. (2014) have discussed how occupations can serve the roles of a servant, recruiter, and a mirror within our lives. Looking at making macrame from the "servant" lens, one application might be that macrame helps me to meet my goal of finding an outlet when life becomes very busy with school and home responsibilities. While my new occupation doesn't necessarily promote my needs for health and survival, I do think it provides me with a creative outlet that helps me to be a more joyful person overall. An application of making macrame as seen from the "recruiter" lens is that this occupation allows me to physically rest from the activities of the day. I do have to be cautious with this though, as most of my day is spent sitting in either a classroom or at my desk while I work on homework. Macrame as a "recruiter" also acts to help me focus my thoughts on the project I am creating instead of other outside worries. Lastly, looking at making macrame as a "mirror", it reflects back to me that I am a person who enjoys to create projects with my hands. I value creativity and artwork, and these values show in my choice of my new occupation as "the selection and style of performing occupations is often imprinted with the unique stamp of a person's self" (Carlson et al., 2014, p. 121).
 |
| Finished project #2 |
References
Carlson, M., Park, D. J., Kuo, A., & Clark, F. (2014). Occupation in relation to the self. Journal of Occupational Science, 21(2), 117-129. http://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2012.727356
Hello Alyssa, it appears your occupation is going really well, and you are making a ton of progress; how exciting! You mentioned that your husband wanted to get you into one of his occupations. Do you think if you would have participated in that occupation, your self-esteem or self-perception would have greatly been influenced? Do you think your current occupation of macrame has positively affected your self-esteem, perception, knowledge, and awareness to the point where you would want to continue beyond this semester?
ReplyDeleteHi Celina, thank you so much! That is a great question you brought up regarding how participating in the occupations my husband suggested might have changed my self-esteem or self-perception. I do think participating in those occupations might change my self-perception to some degree, as it might widen my self-view to view myself as a person who enjoys those occupations. I've tried playing Magic the Gathering in the past and wasn't very successful, but perhaps part of this was that I was going into it with the attitude of the occupation not matching my self-perception, so I didn't invest much energy into learning the game. For making macrame, I do think this has positively affected my self-perception as it reaffirms the idea I have about myself that I am a creative person. I find a lot of joy in creating macrame, so I do think I will continue after this semester! I think one challenge might be finding a variety of projects to work on, as well as finding cost effective materials. This is already an obstacle I'm running in to, so those are some thing I want to keep in mind. Thank you for your comment!
DeleteAlyssa, your macrame looks so good! Did you dye the material or did it come that color?
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned that doing macrame requires you to sit and rest from the day. I am learning to knit, and find that I am less enthusiastic to do my occupation after I have already been sitting all day.
In my blog, I talked about how my self-esteem and perception is not affected much by my lack of progress in knitting because it is required for class and I feel that I have not put enough time into learning to really succeed. Do you feel like your different perceptions of self have improved with your success in making macrame?
Hi Nicole, thank you! I've still got a long ways to go, but it has been fun seeing some of my projects come together. I bought the material in the pink color, although that would be another fun occupation to learn how to dye the macrame cord! That is a great question. Overall, I do feel like my perceptions of self have somewhat improved with my progress in making macrame. However, I think my overall perception of self could be improved more if I had chosen an occupation which would have been more challenging such as something like running a 5K. I chose macrame because it spoke to my creative nature, so it aligns with how I already have viewed myself in the past. I might have had a better growing opportunity if I chose a new occupation which would have brought me more outside of my comfort zone. Thank you for your comment!
Delete