A Necessary Tangent

I have debated, at length, with myself about the topic of today's blog. I had something I really wanted to share, but I wasn't sure if my readers would be ready for (or interested in) a more personal post. And then I figured, after all, this is my blog. I can do whatever the heck I want! Otherwise, I was going to be talking about sleep & rest. Which, as thrilling as that sounds, can wait for another week. While today is, in fact, the perfect day to talk about what I am about to talk about...

And that is bullying. Of course, how it relates to OT (of course), but, more importantly what anyone and everyone should do to combat this.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month. It's something that I have a lot of strong feelings about (just ask my family, they've been audience to my righteous fury on the subject more than once). I'm not here to vent or rage, but to speak about this honestly and seriously.

The relation between OT and bullying is quite simple, really. When a child is bullied, or bullies, it has a huge effect on their performance in, well, all areas of occupation. Which, obviously, we haven't covered all of them yet, so here's a list:

• Activities of Daily Living
• Instrumental Activities of Daily Living
• Sleep & Rest
• Social Participation
• Education & Work
• Leisure & Play

And not just short term effects. Bullying creates permanent changes in how people view themselves and the world around them. I would love to go through each area of occupation and how each can be affected by bullying, but this would end up being an incredibly long--and, quite frankly, depressing--post.

Honestly, I'm having a really difficult time writing this post. There are so many things that I want to say, and I want to give this subject the full attention it deserves. But, at the same time, I would probably go on and on, metaphorically forever if I did that. And it still wouldn't be enough. 

So, I'm going to ask two things of you. 

First of all, I want you to take a look at this website and educate yourself:

https://www.stopbullying.gov/ 

Educate yourself so that you can recognize bullying and know the proper steps to take in order to put a stop to it. 

Second is a request for kindness. As with everything else (and to quote Zootopia), change starts with you. It's important to examine our own actions and thoughts before trying to change those of others. And for the issue of bullying, it can be as simple as being kind. Kind in all things, to everyone that we meet. Making sure everyone feels loved, respected, and included. If we can do that, we are on our way to changing the world. Which, I understand, is a super cliche thing to say, but I firmly believe it to be true.