Mr. Clear experienced a tragic injury in high school from a baseball bat. The impact from the bat fractured his skull and led to some serious brain swelling. After being air-lifted to a hospital, he had several post-traumatic seizures and was eventually induced into a medical coma. Upon awakening from this coma, Mr. Clear was faced with the reality of a long road of recovery. However, he was determined to not let his unfortunate circumstances keep him from reaching his goals of playing professional baseball. Throughout his time at Denison University, Mr. Clear implemented small habits into his day-to-day life that resulted in several admirable athletic and academic achievements and recognition.

Mr. Clear’s story has offered me new insight on how to approach recovery and reaching goals with my future clients. Disabilities differ in severity, thus I believe the capabilities of a future client would hinge on that severity to an extent. However, Mr. Clear’s story makes me feel as though the capacity for improvement is far greater than I had once thought; as long as the therapeutic approach is consistent and “system” oriented.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” (Clear, 2018, p.27)

I believe this statement is saying that our performance or behavior does not reflect what our goals are, instead it reflects what our systems are. One does not begin acting in a way that is required by the level of their goal without the foundation of highly effective systems supporting that behavior. Furthermore, if our systems (daily habits) are poor, we fall to that level of performance.

A system that needs improvement in order for me to be the best recreation therapist possible would be planning ahead. I need to work on writing everything down that needs my attention for the month ahead. Implementing this system adjustment into my daily life would aid me in reaching my goal of being a forward thinker.

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