Tidying up as an occupation

Previously, I wrote about aini’s story of cleaning her room. I understood that it’s an important routine for aini but why? Today, I want to share with you more about a view of tidying up as an occupation from these angles,

              the form of tidying up as an occupation,

        the function of the occupation,

and the meaning of the occupation.

To look at her tidying up in a big occupational picture, let’s imagine aini cleaning up her room.

Aini and Etsuko in the zoom interview

Aini's room on Friday

Aini's room on Monday

Situation: Aini is a student who lives with her parents and siblings in Seatle. She is a tidy person who learned that it is important to keep her room clean and how to clean and organize her room from her auntie, with whom she had shared a room when she was younger.

Form of the occupation: aini is very busy on week days with school from early morning to noon and then with homework and studying for school tests in the afternoon. On Mondays, aini’s room is clean and tidy. It gets messier as the week days progress, because she is too busy to keep it neat and tidy. She finds her clothes and books get scattered on the floor and her laundry basket fills. She also loses track of her belongings because her little brother moves them somewhere else in the house. Sometimes she nearly grabs the wrong textbooks and handouts for class as she leaves in a hurry. The messy room negatively affects her life. Then she isn’t comfortable in her room or with herself and she needs to tidy up to feel comfortable again. On the weekend, she spends two to four hours cleaning her room. She does her laundry, vacuums the floor, dusts the closet, wipes the dresser tables and organizes her school work, textbooks and handouts. Then she feels ready to start the next week.

Function of the occupation: Aini’s room is an important place for her everyday activities including her school duties, personal activities and rest. At the beginning of the week, her room is tidy, clean, and organized well because she cleans it up on the weekend.   

During the week, she is too busy to keep her room clean and tidy. Her room gets messier and that affects her life in different ways. Aini isn’t relaxed nor comfortable in her messy room. She can’t find her belongings when she needs them. When her room is clean and tidy, she can be productive in her studying and preparing for her classes, but in her disorganized room, aini can’t be productive nor comfortable. Aini feels that she can’t move forward any more. Then Aini’s "cleaning up switch" turns on. She spends a lot of time tidying up her room. While cleaning her room and organizing her stuff, she thinks about next week and plans for the future.  

Tidying up returns her room to the normal mode. Aini’s mind recovers as her most important environment gets organized. Then aini feels refreshed and ready for the next week.

Cleaning up her life environment regularly supports her ability to be relaxed and organizing her environment and mind encourages her to be productive in student life and to step forward toward the future.

Meaning of the occupation: For aini, tidying up her room means organizing her life environment and her thinking. Tidying and organizing supports her need to live in a comfortable environment. It supports her ability to live better and step forward to the future. Such a life supports her development including on her career ladder.