Self-Discovery Tapestry

In our "occupations across the lifespan" course, we had to evaluate our lives based on a self discovery tapestry. On the grid, you plot major events in your life across different situations in your life, such as who you live with, what your hobbies are, and whether or not you were happy at the time. Every time something in your life changes, you are supposed to use a new color, signifying how "colorful" your life was. After we finished the tapestry, we were asked to reflect on what we learned.


The Assignment: Discuss what you learned about yourself, your own occupational profile, and the process of creating an occupational profile, by completing the personal shield, Life Tapestry, and other self-assessment activities. Compared to this action and reflection approach, what differences do you anticipate in using interview and observation skills to complete your other occupational profile?

My Response: Upon completing all of the self-assessments, including the life tapestry, I have discovered how much an individual’s life situation (such as location and finances) can have an impact on his or her occupations. The interest checklists made me realize how many of the activities that I am interested in I am actually not currently participating in. Then my life tapestry showed me exactly why this is the case. I can best explain this with an example:

I love doing outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, fishing, boating, skiing, horseback riding etc. When I used to participate in these things the most was when I lived with my parents in Mansfield, Ohio. At the time, my parents paid for many of my needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter, leaving my own money for leisure activities and hobbies. We were also in a prime location for outdoor activities. There are two ski resorts within a fifteen minute drive of their home, as well as Mohican State Park, which is within a half hour. My grandpa, who lives about twenty minutes away from my parents, has a pond on his property where I was able to fish and canoe whenever I wanted to.

When I graduated from high school, I moved to Columbus, Ohio to attend college at The Ohio State University (a major event on my life tapestry). This took away my accessibility to these hobbies, as well as all the money needed to participate in them, as I was on my own financially for the first time. Now, at Shawnee State, my busy schedule and the expenses associated with graduate school, will most likely keep me from enjoying the outdoors for the next two years as well. While my interest in these activities still remains quite strong, I am unable to participate because I can not afford to travel, purchase equipment, or give up my time to continue my hobbies on a regular basis.

In Meltzer’s (2001) article on the self-discovery tapestry, she notes that people are always adapting their occupations, especially when their current occupation is interrupted by a major life event. This is definitely true in my case. When I started out on my own in Columbus, my occupational role as a fun-loving daughter adapted obligingly to my new situation, and I became a college student living “paycheck to paycheck.” Since I was unable to spend my free time outdoors, I found other hobbies that were less expensive and easier to access in the big city.

When I was doing these assessments on myself, it was easy for me to notice major changes in my own life and the way they affected me because I know everything there is to know about my own life. When I do the occupational profile assignment on another individual through observation and interviews, it is very likely that I could miss something. Embarrassment, denial, or forgetfulness could also keep that individual from giving me information that would be necessary to do a complete occupational profile. Hopefully, by being prepared with specific questions and examples from my own experience, I will be able to extract the appropriate information.

Meltzer, P. J. (2001). Using the self-discovery tapestry to explore occupational careers. Journal of Occupational Science, 8(2), 16-24.