I’m Ashlee, the ColorfullyEnthused* OT. My mission in life is to encourage, motivate, and uplift others with my words, my work, and my smile.
The ColorfullyEnthused* OT briefly introduced you to the professional side of my life and the purpose of this blog, but here you’ll get to know me on a more personal level. For any business to grow and thrive, its customers, clients, and biggest fans must understand its story. Supporters of a small business should also know, trust, and stand behind the business owner—and hey, that’s me!
First and foremost, I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I believe that for some people, He operates in BIG ways—changing and directing their lives through obvious, altering experiences. For me, He’s more often used the subtle experiences of everyday life. I believe He’s been intricately designing my life all along. Step-by-step, He reveals pieces of His Will for me, at a rate that He knows I handle. He uses encounters, conversations, failures, conflicts, and struggles with intention—to direct my gaze upon Him. Day-by-day, I’m blown away by the beauty of all the layering and unfolding that my story beholds.
My journey to discovering occupational therapy (OT), the profession I love but couldn’t yet name, began in uncertainty as I began to explore my options for a college degree. As a junior in high school, I remember not having a clue as to what I wanted to major in or what I wanted to do when I “grew up.” I remember feeling overwhelmed by my lack of interest or desire in any of the career paths that had been mentioned to me up to that point. Then, in a single psychology class, it clicked. We watched “Awakenings,” a movie in which catatonic patients experience the first-time effects of prescribed L-Dopa to regulate dopamine. As soon as a patient who hadn’t been able to talk or move began to bounce a ball with another patient, my eyes filled with tears and I knew: “That’s what I want to do!” I started articulating the aspects of a job I dreamed of, but didn’t know exactly what that career was. I realized that although I was very interested in the medical field, I wasn’t so interested in medication management, head to toe assessments, or trending vitals. Instead, I wanted to help patients get back to really living—truly LIVING, fully and abundantly!—after the doctors and nurses kept them alive. I realized that I wanted to be a positive, therapeutic vessel that helped people reach their full potential in life, no matter what the circumstances. Through a combination of speaking with a professor during a college visit and conversing with my now mother-in-law (then, a family friend), I discovered that the “dream job” of my life existed—and it was called “occupational therapy!”
In school, I always loved learning about the role that OTs play in mental health. I even chose a fieldwork assignment at Fort Bragg, where I experienced working with clients with mental health difficulties. So it was no surprise to my family and friends that my first job as an occupational therapist was in a psychiatric hospital. I remember addressing leisure in my very first therapy session, with my very first patient: a father and husband who struggled with depression and alcoholism. I taught him a card game! The card game addressed underlying deficits in cognitive processing speed, while also providing him an opportunity for fun, laughter, and social participation. Right now, I can remember thinking that day, “Yep, this is EXACTLY what I want to do!” I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the psychiatric hospital; I loved the role that I had with my clients. Through occupational engagement, I watched their darkness lift—I saw healing.
Although the psychiatric hospital affirmed that I loved my new profession, I knew in my heart that I had always wanted to work with children in the schools someday. When I learned that a position had opened in one of Central Ohio’s largest and highest performing school districts, I quickly applied. I’ve loved school all my life. As a kid, I hated being sick and missing a day of school. Through college, I maintained my obsession with school supplies. While in grad school, I remember my now brother-in-law teasing me by saying something like “With your love of everything about school, you probably wish you could go to school forever!” Bahaha . . . he wasn’t wrong! Unfortunately, I can’t make much of a living by continuing to accrue tuition costs. The next best thing would be to play a role in a child’s learning; so, I was quick to go after an opportunity that would allow me to help kids enjoy their school experience just as I had. Back then, I’d anticipated that my husband and I would have four kids by now. I also knew that the schedule of the schools would allow me the opportunity to be home when the kids were home, while simultaneously continuing work as an occupational therapist. Six years later, we have one single, furry pup! Good thing “raising a family” wasn’t my only motivation for working in the schools, although the schedule still definitely rocks ;-).
Working in the schools every day feels similar to one of my favorite pastimes: coaching the summer league swim team that my (now) husband and I had grown up on—year after year, summer after summer—during my breaks from high school and college. I thrived on encouraging children from 5 to 18 years of age to LOVE the water, their teammates, and their personal progress. Now, I thrive on “coaching” elementary-aged kids to LOVE school, learning, and personal progress!
Outside of being an OT, and writing and creating OT-related products, here are some of my favorite occupations: Lettering, painting, bullet-journaling (bujo), and Bible-journaling in my craft room. Gardening and watching the flowers grow while soaking in rays on my back porch. Letting go of all cognitive thinking while riding through the breeze on the back of my husband’s motorcycle. One-on-one time with him at our local favorite “fun, casual joint”: Roosters. Reading, reading, reading . . . with my feet propped up in my “reading chair,” a cup of coffee at my side, and my pup’s head on my lap. Relaxing at home in my comfy clothes with my boys—Jordan & Tate—who make me smile each and every day . . . and ending the day sprawled in my most homey of spaces: my bed.
By the way, one of the aspects I enjoy most about the profession of OT is that it’s very holistic! We study and value all the things that make a client who they are—their skills and abilities, and things like their roles, routines, habits, environments, and valued objects—in order to provide meaningful connections and intervention. So here are a few more things that I absolutely love about this life of mine, and that make me who I am: Being a wife, a #dogmom, a big sister, and an aunt. Quiet early mornings, and evenings of watching “stories” (the name Jordan’s papa used for “TV shows”) on the couch. Worship music on the drive to work, country music on the ride home, and “Volbeat Radio” while making dinner. HOT sunshine, pattering rain, and loud rumblings of thunder. My yellow jeep, leather midori, pink Bible, and #ALLTHEPENS. And life’s delicious indulgences of ice cream, tortilla chips, fountain Diet Cokes, French fries (fun fact: some of our friends called me “Side A Fry” for a whole summer), my nightly frozen Reece cup, and pizza!
I hope you’ll hang around for a while and connect with me—let’s share in all of life’s blessings: big, small, and everything in between!