Hobbies

Up until about 2.5 years ago, I was passionate about exercise and fitness. I was heavily involved in the Vikes cheerleading team, and was on the team for the first two Worlds competitions, and for the ‘three-peat’ at Sea to Sky Championships, against SFU, UBC and TRU. In my last year however, I aggravated a previous back injury, and injured both my shoulders. Because of this, I took a year off, and was challenged to become comfortable with rest.

I returned to old hobbies such as sewing, embroidery, camping and woodworking, and am learning new hobbies such as canning and (hopefully) swing dancing. The past years have been spent focusing on expression and healing in ways that I didn’t realize I was restricted from before. I am learning to love being soft and gentle, both physically and emotionally.

Significantly, these hobbies can be picked up and put down easily. In athletics, there was always a ‘go-go-go’ attitude. By taking a break from long term goals that can always get harder, I am learning to focus on process, and how to participate for only the enjoyment of participation. Most of the projects I create become gifts for friends and family, or donations. Giving back to the people who mean so much to me has been the best outcome of a year-off-turned-pandemic.

Three photos of myself, participating in some of my favorite activities. In the left image, I am long boarding on Dallas Road. The middle is myself and my partner blackberry picking, with the blackberries featured in the front of the picture. The final right hand picture is again myself, trying my hand at making applesauce, shortly before I cut my thumb.

Interests

In my professional life, I work constantly with youth. For just over 4 years I have worked at a school age care program, and filled in with the daycare portion of the same center. Every September I am blessed to get a combination of old and new children in my group. Together we get to build a program that suits their needs, whether that is always having art supplies fully stocked and ready to go for free expression, or guiding more structured activities in board games and Bob Ross parties. My favorite part of working with these children is when we indulge in their favorite activities, and then they learn that they have a spectrum of needs that need to be met. While we can splatter paint every day, sometimes it’s nice to sit with some tea, and have someone read to us.

My other job is at a group home. While this is difficult work, I admire each of the youth I work with so much. It has been a challenge adjusting to teenagers rather than 10 year olds, but they have all been so patient and kind. Seeign their determination to trust and love, despite being in a world that is so often suspicious and rejective of them, is truly inspiring. I love helping them set goals for themselves, whether they be skills based or social, and seeing their pride in self sufficiency.

When I grow up, I would like to transfer these experiences into elementary school teaching by creating trauma informed and creativity based learning environments. Long term, I would like to go into curriculum design and administration.