Final project

Introduction

                For my personal and professional health it is very important for me to grow physically, spiritually, and psychologically. As a health professional these are important steps for many reasons, for example physically it is important in order for you to be able to care for others you must be well enough in your personal care. If you are sick or overweight for example it may slow you down to where it is harder to care for others in the way you should be. Psychologically, you will be exposed to many different cases and you need to be able to help them without getting in the middle of what they are dealing with. You will have some patients that you love dearly, and although it is ok to have empathy for them you should try not to sympathize for them. One, because you may only know their side and two, because most patients do not want to be pitied it makes them feel as though they are not able to care for themselves and give up. Spiritually, I believe it is important to remember that although it is good for you to know where you stand you need to be careful not to push your beliefs on others either. All of these things working together if handled in a healthy manner can help you and your patients to do the best you can and heal quicker.

Assessment

                This is a little harder than you would normally imagine, for most of us it easy to judge others health and think that is unhealthy but when you have to look at yourself sometimes it is a little harder. I am sure each us have been there when we see someone doing something unsafe or unhealthy, we think why they don’t stop; however, sometimes it is a lot harder than you may think. For me, I believe spiritually I would score myself pretty high. I have a great relationship with god, and am very happy and blessed for the way I feel about all that he has given me. Psychologically, I also feel that my health is pretty good. Although, maybe around a 7 because honestly I do not think the highest of myself. I think I am a good person that would do anything for anyone, but I allow stress to control me at times and need to learn to view myself in a more positive outlook. Physically, I would only rate myself at a 5 or 6. My overall physical health is pretty good; I don’t have any life threatening diseases or any diseases that cause me to not be able to do what I want to do for the most part. I do have hypothyroidism, anemia, and frequent migraines but all of them are nothing compared to some of the diseases that you see today. However, the one thing that physically and psychologically brings me down is that I am overweight. I have lost some weight but still have a ways to go; I am still at about a BMI of 29 which is still too high. As well, as the fact that I do not feel my endurance is at a healthy place for exercising either.  

Goal Development

                My biggest goal is to become more physically fit. I want to not only lose weight but to be healthy also, so I want to make sure I am making a lifestyle change not just diet. I have been one of those people who have tried yo-yo dieting and have always gained it back. I want to eat healthier and exercise frequently so that I won’t only lose the weight, but keep it off as well. Psychologically, my weight loss journey will help me greatly in this department as well. However, my goal here is to think highly of myself overall and not let stress bring me down. I need to learn to accept things that happen as a way to understand and accept them, not let them bother me and never be able to do anything about them. Finally, the one thing I guess I would change spiritually would be that I would want to be able to feel like I do more for god. I feel as though there is never enough time in the day, and would love to be able to take more time for him and to show my kids how great he is. Also, I would really like to take more time for myself to just stop, breathe, and realize how lucky we are.

Practices for Personal Health

                In order to implement my goals, I must first start by making a plan to do so. Otherwise, I will not stick to it and I will fail, which would make me not want to do stick to it. Physically, my goals would to be able to run a 5k and to have a BMI below 25. I have already been working towards both of these, but I still have to continue my journey in order to get there. I will need to continue to exercise and train to reach these goals. Psychologically, my goals are to learn to handle my stress in a more positive manner, and to build a higher self-esteem. These are things that are a little harder to get to, in order to help with both though I believe taking time to see all I do have and appreciate it by meditation or goal setting can really help me to reach this goal. Spiritually, my goals would be to take more time to worship god and to give more back. In order for me to do these I think I would need to schedule time in so that I know this will happen.

Commitment

                Over the next six months I will have to monitor my goals by tracking them and seeing how effectively they are working. Again for the physical part it will be easier to see the results since I will be able to weigh myself in order to see what I have lost and will be able to track my runs to make sure I could run in a 5k. Psychologically, I will have to see if my stress level decreases by paying attention to the way I deal with it and how effective that is. The self-esteem issues I believe will get better as my physical health gets better. Spiritually, I need to just make sure these things are put into my schedule so that I can track how many hours I am doing this. I believe that overall my health is progressing to a very positive holistic place that I can be proud of, just like everything in life it will take time and work in order to get to where I need to be.