Final Project

               I.               Introduction:
                      It is important for everyone to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically. Though I think it’s especially important for health and wellness professionals. If the professionals are not well in these areas, how can they be expected to teach others to achieve this wellness? It can’t just be a “do as I say not as I do” mind set. To teach others how to do something you must be proficient in it yourself. In this case a health and wellness professional should feel whole and well in these three areas of wellness and be able to pass on their knowledge and tips on how to achieve wellness. I need to develop in all three areas. I think most people would say that as well. No one is perfect. I have goals in every area of wellness. I think my biggest focus right now are on psychological and spiritual health, as I have been working on my physical health for some time now.

              II.               Assessment:
       People are constantly changing. I assessed my health a little over a month ago and rated my physical health a 7, my spiritual wellness a 5 and my psychological a 7. As for physical I think I am around the same. Maybe even down a point to a 6 because I just haven’t been able to get into working out lately and I am sleep deprived. But for the most part my nutrition has stayed the same; I haven’t had any illness etc. Spiritually I think I would bump myself up to a 6 as well. I am trying to be more in tune with myself and finding my place in life. I have realized how important I am to my children and my family and it has boosted me spiritually. I have also found a few of the exercises in class very helpful. Psychologically I’ll say I have fallen down to around a 5. I am having late post partum depression issues. I am very down psychologically and having a hard time coping with my children. I have a 6 month old and a 2 year old. I have no family around and my husband works all day so it is very taxing on me. Add onto that my 6 month old doesn’t sleep well, doesn’t like naps, is teething and just becoming a little harder to handle. My sleep deprivation affects both physical and psychological wellness. I have had some issues lately resenting my younger child and not wanting to be around her just because it seems like I can’t handle it and I’d rather not stress myself dealing with it. It’s a hard time and I hope I can start to cope better.

             III.               Goal development:
           I have goals in every area of my wellness. Physically my most realistic goal is to take better care of my body. This includes eating less food that is bad for me and working out more. The biggest thing I need to change physically is my sleep deprivation but that’s not a goal I can work out myself right now because my baby is up at night causing it. Spiritually I want to try and have quiet time every day. I’m attempting to find a few minutes every morning before everyone is awake to have a few minutes of quiet time to just connect with myself. Psychologically my goal is a little different. I am looking for a doctor to help me with that. I need to talk things through, maybe with a psychiatrist so I can have access to medications if that point comes along. However I’d like to try and resolve things with some therapy and mental health time to myself.

            IV.               Practices for personal health: 

                 To help physical wellness there are two exercises I want to focus on. First is literal exercise. Since it is getting warmer out I am going to start taking my kids for walks to get some sun and exercise. The other is to practice checking ingredients on everything before I eat it. If something is questionable I want to make myself put that food down and walk away. Psychologically I am going to have more fun. Instead of staying inside with the children on the weekend I can take them to a playplace or the library. The other exercise is acknowledging my achievements no matter how small. At the end of the day if I think back and I got nothing substantial done that day, I am still going to appreciate that I was there for my children. I fed them, loved them, nurtured them etc and I should be proud of that. I think being less hard on myself and more appreciative I can boost my mental health. Spiritually I can work on meditation. I am not a fan of meditation but I would like to try implementing it into my life more. Second is just trying to have some relaxing time listening to slow music and doing whatever I would like. I never get this time so I have to try and find it. Instead of doing the dishes maybe I’ll listen to yoga music and paint my nails.

             V.               Commitment:

                  To assess my progress I think I will stick to rating my wellness out of 10. It gives me a good idea of what I need to work on and what I am improving. I can try to average out the progress I’ve made and what I still need to do to get an accurate rating. The one strategy that I think can really help maintain my goals and practices is to make myself accountable. I can explain to my husband what I need to do and how and when so he can let me know if I am doing them like I said I would. A good idea is to create a group on social media of people who would all like to work on these things. That is a really good way to keep yourself accountable. Everyone could check in with their progress and explain what is or isn’t working for them.