I do have a lot of areas that I would like to improve and haven’t been where I feel like I need to be. Physically, is where I feel like really need to improve. I have been having a difficult time finding the motivation to exercise when I used to get up every morning and do what is called “fasted cardio” where you do cardio on a healthy stomach and that is supposed to aid in fat loss. Psychologically I do feel like I have some areas to improve, I can sometimes have a negative reactions to situations in which aren’t as bad as I feel like they are. I need to find more ways to incorporate more positivity in my life in certain situations which just comes with age I feel. Spiritually I do feel like there needs to be some more improvement such as making sure that I go to church every Sunday and say my daily prayers which I have been slacking on lately. I do feel bad about it at times because I have so much to be thankful for. I feel that everyone has room for improvement in all areas of their lives.
I have recently assessed my health domain as a whole and on a scale of one to ten I would say my physical fitness is a two which I am pretty ashamed of, but that just means that I need to start incorporating exercising into my daily schedule. My psychological wellness I would say is a six, so in the middle. I am only 21 so I still have a lot to learn and a lot more maturing left to do. My spiritual wellness I would rate at a four. I know that sounds low but I haven’t been the best Catholic lately but I have had some events in my life that recently changed my perspective on a lot of things and that is the most important is having a strong spiritual connection with God and Jesus in my case.
Goal setting is one of the most powerful ways to motivate someone in my opinion. I do try and set goals for myself but lately I have not been reaching them unfortunately. My goals for my physical fitness are to lose the fifteen pounds that I have gained in the last 8 months. When I was only 130 pounds I felt so much better about myself and I would like to reach that again, which will take time. Psychologically my goal is to develop better ways to cope with stress, at times I take things to extremes. I recently got let go from my job and all I could do was cry about it because I felt like a failure, and I know that is not the case because the job just wasn’t for me. I have learned many different coping techniques such as trying to find the positives in it and just taking a step back and looking at the situation from a different perspective which has helped a great deal. Spiritually my goal is to strengthen my relationship with God and I plan on doing that by attending church regularly and praying on a regular basis.
The strategies that I plan to use for my physical health is that I need to do exercises that I enjoy doing and that will become just a lifestyle for me rather than just a diet plan. I love to walk, so walking outside and enjoying nature is a great exercise for me and I also plan on doing some resistance training to strengthen my muscles such as squatting because my rear area is where I would like to tone the most. It’ll take some time and effort but the results will be definitely worth it. For my psychological health, I plan to try and start to meditate. We discussed this in class and I feel that that would be a perfect exercise for me to clear my mind. I would also like to try some yoga classes which would benefit me both mentally and physically. What I need to do for my spiritual goals is to exercise my praying like I mentioned before and find new Catholic prayers that I’ve never said and I also need to read the Bible on a regular basis as well to strengthen my faith.
What I will do to assess my progress and there won’t be lack of progress because that won’t get my where I want to be. I think visuals help a lot. Having a calendar or a chart of my progress in all aspects would be a great reminder of where I started and where I want to be in the future. The strategies that I plan on using to maintain this lifestyle would just be reminders of what I used to look like physically and what I look like in my future sense because you don’t want to regress back to where you were because starting over is so hard. For my psychological goals I could set up a meditation schedule for a few times a week and try to make sure I don’t miss one and sign up for some yoga classes at the local gym as well. Spiritually I can use a Catholic calendar with all the special events or holy days of obligation on it and cross of every Sunday that I attended church to remind myself that I am doing a great job attending every Sunday.
Sometimes it’s the little changes that we make in our daily lives that make all the difference. Eating more vegetables and less junk food, taking time to look at the positives in your life and just praying everyday can help our wellness immensely. Everyone starts from somewhere, and the sooner you start, the happier you will be and that’s a guarantee.
