Unit 9 Project

I.                    Introduction:

I think it is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because it would make them more believable as teachers and their clients would trust their judgment and their opinion more than if they didn’t practice what they were teaching themselves. It would be like a physically unfit person becoming a personal trainer and trying to help someone reach a weight or health goal that they themselves have not even put in the effort to reach. As a health and wellness professional you should have first put in the effort to help yourself before you try to help someone else. Then you can be both a teacher and an example of what your client is trying to achieve. I personally still need to work on growing in all three categories; psychological, spiritual and physical. I believe this class has helped to me realize that I am not as far in these areas as I would like to be and now I have the knowledge to help me to get to there.

II.                 Assessment

After assessing myself from the beginning of the class to the end I am not as far as I need to be. I am probably doing the best spiritually. Everyone sees spirituality different so I don’t see it so much as a religious aspect as I do just being connected to the world around you. I find the most peace when I am able to go outside and connect with nature but I still need to practice finding that peace and calm when I do not have the opportunity to seclude myself in a nature setting. Physically I am doing pretty good considering I am nine months pregnant. I feel that this is something that I will begin to work more on after the baby arrives and I am able to tackle it with full force without any restrictions. The psychological aspect is where I feel I still need the most work. Stress management seems to be somewhat of an issue for me still and letting go of grudges is something that I need to definitely work on. I realize that I will not be able to continue to grow and bring peace into my life or others’ lives until I learn to manage these emotions and so I am hopeful that with more work in this area I will be able to find more peace and understanding.

III.               Goal Development

Physical: It is my goal, as soon as I have my baby, to really jump back into a fitness routine. I had started one before I got pregnant and it was really starting to help me with the other aspects of my life without me really even knowing it. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes during this pregnancy and the knowledge I have learned from that is something that I can carry into my physical well-being after I deliver. I plan on continuing to eat healthy and clean and I plan on making time to go to the gym at least three times a week. On days that I cannot make it to the gym I will make it a priority to do something active around the house.

Psychological: My goal for this category is to try and release the grudges that I hold against people. Even though I have come to realize that they do not only affect me but my attitude also affects the people around me I have still found it difficult to release these feelings and heal. I need to really focus on the negativity in my life and release it so that it doesn’t weigh me down so much and hinder growth in other areas.

Spiritual: My goal for this is to learn to tap into my spirituality from anywhere. Currently I am the most spiritual when I am alone in a nature setting, be it sitting in a field or by our pond or even watching the rain fall. I find the most peace when I am in these types of settings. If I can learn to tap into those feelings no matter where I am then I believe the peace and calm that I receive from my spirituality will help me to manage my stress and anger so that I can continue to grow psychologically as well.

IV.              Practices for Personal Health

Physical: There are two things that I see that play a major role in being well physically those are fitness and what you eat. First I plan to maintain a fitness schedule so that I maintain a healthy activity level. I plan to go to the gym at least three times a week and on days that I cannot make it to the gym I plan on having an alternative routine that I can do at home. Second I plan to continue eating healthy and clean. Watching my carb intake and keeping an eye on my blood sugars even though I will no longer have gestational diabetes. This way I can see the effects that food and exercise has on my body and I can adjust things accordingly.

Psychological: I have found in past experience that having a fitness routine has really helped my psychological state. I plan to keep up a healthy fitness routine to help quiet my mind when things really seem to start piling on top of each other. Second I plan on setting aside a time to meditate. This will be a time when I know no one will be calling and I know I will be able to have some peace. I will strive to do 10 to 15 minutes every day to really work on my mental emotions.

Spiritual: Since I find the most spiritual peace in nature I plan on going outside and just spending time for at least 30 minutes a day. In this time I can just sit and relax in the quiet natural setting or I can go for a walk and observe the different aspects of nature. The winter is too cold to just sit outside so my second plan will be for those months that I cannot just sit outside and enjoy the sun, instead I will find a way to bring a nature setting inside to me. I think the best way for me to do this is to bring plants into our house. By nurturing and taking care of these plants I will still be able to have a connection with the outside and this will also help me to learn to find spiritual peace away from the natural setting which I currently rely on.

V.                 Commitment

To stay committed to my goals I will begin to keep a journal. At the end of every month I will evaluate myself and how I have done. If I need to work harder then I will make a note of it. During my self-evaluation I can set new goals to help me grow and I can change my strategies from the months past if I continue to not meet the goals I have set for myself. I think as long as I continue to stay on top of things and remember to stay positive then I will be able to reach my goals. I must also remember that it is okay to make mistakes and if I falter from my goals to pick myself back up and continue on. This is still a learning experience and it is okay to make mistakes because that is how you learn what does and does not work for you.

Relaxation Exercise

I was feeling a little irritated today so I figured this would be the best time to try the exercise and try to relax a little bit. Once the audio started I was sure it was not going to work, my first impression was that it was just going to make me even more annoyed but I was wrong. As the audio went on I began to get into it and I actually did start to relax, so much that if I had been laying down in bed rather than sitting up I probably would have drifted right off to sleep. When I opened my eyes at the end of the exercise though, I was not tired at all. This exercise reminds me of one I did in high school. My English teacher in 11th grade liked to make sure that we were alert and ready to learn so on days when we seemed a bit dead she would have us move all of the desks and we would begin the class with yoga, at first it was a little strange but by the end of the year we all looked forward to those days. Anyway when we had our state testing at the end of the week when everything was done she wanted to make sure that we were all relaxed and not stressing from the busy week we had so we moved all of the desks we all laid down and she put on an audio similar to the one I listened to today and for most of the class we got to just turn ourselves off and relax both our bodies and our minds, which I believe is really important to do sometimes.

Introducing ME!

I'm new to this whole blogging thing so it may not be fancy but hopefully it will be interesting to some people. I thought I would start off by introducing myself a little bit.

 My name is Ericka and I am 27 years old. I have been married to my husband for a little over 9 years and I have a 7 year old son. My dad was in the Navy for 24 years but luckily we were able to stay in San Diego, CA from the time I was about 5 until I got married and moved away. I met my husband while he was in the Navy and we got married after only 5 months of dating. I was 19 when we had our son. After he got out of the military we moved to Reno, NV where he is originally from, after about 2 years we decided to move to Texas where my extended family is all from. After having my son my body never really went back to normal and after trying for almost four years I was convinced I was not going to be able to get pregnant again, at least not without the help of fertility treatments which we really could not afford. After finally accepting this I made the decision to focus on getting my health back to where I was before I had my son. I started working out and eating right and I started seeing a lot of changes in both my physical appearance and my attitude then it stopped. I made an appointment to see what was going on and low and behold, 8 years after becoming pregnant with my son, I was pregnant again. We are all very excited, especially my son who has been asking for a sibling for the last couple of years. I have always had an interest in health and wellness of both the body and mind and recently my family is starting to come around and accept the things that I have been trying to share with them for years. I hope to learn a lot from this class and from the other people taking this class. Like I said I am new to blogging but I think this is a really cool idea to learn from others in the class and to share a little about my experiences as well. I look forward to learning about everyone and I hope you find what I have to say interesting as well.