For this blog, we are asked to post  our final project as the blog.  Soo, for  your reading pleasure. here it is:

HW420 Final Project

Andrea Nelsen

      Section One:  Introduction:  Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

I think that as a caregiver, in whatever form you choose to practice, you need to be first and foremost honest with your patients and clients.  The image you project to them of honesty and true compassion will help them just as much as any medication or treatments that you may prescribe. If you are a fitness trainer who is morbidly obese, that says that maybe your lifestyle and priorities are not in tune with your career choice, and you most likely do NOT practice what you preach. I work in the veterinary field and we are forced to communicate with our patients by reading their bodies and mannerisms. The clients, we have to communicate verbally, and in many ways, we are their counselors and help them make informed decisions about their beloved pets. It becomes clear very quickly when we are not sure of our advice or we are just trying to sell them a service. (At least with the ones I work with. they are savvy and very few are likely to just follow advice for the sake of being compliant).

In my future endeavors, I hope to work in the human field, and I feel that psychologically I will need to prepare myself to work with a wider variety of people and physical conditions. I honestly am not sure if I will make the transition to the human medicine world as I truly love the veterinary world, but human nature is such a wide ocean and I am far more used to dealing with those that have the same passion and care for animals as I do, that working and dealing with people in such stressful situations as ill health may be more than I am prepared for. Animals are far more forgiving in the long run.

Section Two: Assessment: How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

Spiritually:  Using a scoring system of: Needs work (self explanatory) Adequate (good enough but it doesn’t hurt to strive for better, obviously) And Rock Star, I would put this as between adequate and Rock star. I have made a concerted effort to make “me” time and use it well. I have been sleeping better and found a center of peace with nature that took a while but is getting stronger.

Physically: Needs Work. I am overweight and while I have joined a gym, and go regularly, I do need to concentrate on my diet more than I do.  I have many heart related diseases in my family history and diabetes as well, and I have found myself being complacent as I have normal blood values and blood pressure. My husband has hypertension, and is on medication so diet should be easy fix, but I am not the best planner, and then fall back on easy, not so healthy options.

Psychologically:  Adequate. I feel less stress than I expected to with school, work and life in general, and I thing this helps the mind in this regard.  I do have some issues with a few people who have made life challenging and even heartbreaking, and I am trying to forgive and let this go, but as it is still a source of distress for my dad, it’s hard to let it go. Having never felt that my dad really stood up for and believed in me is also a huge part of this. (Long story short, his lawyer friend has him convinced I was trying to put him in a home to steal his money. dad’s hardly wealthy, and My sister in law and I were his primary care givers for 18 months after mom died. we were trying to talk him into going into an assisted living facility so he could have some social stimulus as well, and he actually thrived there when forced to go after being hospitalized. the “friend” told him we were trying to get rid of him, and he believes the man. so he’s back home alone with no services.. also the lawyer friend’s idea.. dad “disowned” me and won’t speak to me).  Yeah, I would feel lighter, freer if I could let this go, but too much time has been invested at this point to make this an easy endeavor. So I have the interesting dilemma of trying to deal with my anger, and my worry simultaneously. Oh, and If I try to “interfere” in dad’s health or life, I could be arrested. (Also his buddy’s idea). Dad says he doesn’t remember signing this document, but since I have a copy, I know he did.. Legally, I’m stuck, too.

Section Three: Goal development: List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

Physical: I want to loose 35 pounds by the end of the year. I have three hour-long sessions in the gym weekly, I walk the dogs (granted, they are greyhounds, so they have speed but little stamina, so these are about a mile only) and ride the horse; this is a workout.  Maybe not as good as a machine or stability ball, but you do get the core engaged and use your legs.  It’s also therapy and relaxing as well, so extra bonus there. I need to change my diet, slowly to make the changes stick, and do more physical activity outside of the regimen at the gym. As I get in better shape, this will become easier as well.

Mental health: This will be the challenging one, and may fall in line with a shift in spiritualty as well. The gym etc. has been very helpful for my stress level, and I do sleep better, but this could also be improved upon. I do deep breathing and visualization exercise before bed, and this activity alone has helped greatly, and this class has been instrumental in building this in as a routine part of my day/night.

Spirituality: This and the previous one are about one in the same for me. My connection to animals and nature are my “spirituality” and also the main focus for improvement in my mental health. I don’t believe in god, I don’t practice an organized religion, but I find some of the concepts in Christianity very obvious and honorable.  The “Golden Rule” is the one that I feel has the biggest impact. If everyone just took a few seconds to think about the impact of their words and actions on those around them on a daily basis, so much anger could be avoided. I think too much emphasis is placed on wealth and power, and more time communing with nature and respecting it’s strength and limitations would help many find an inner peace and tranquility that may be lacking

Section Four: Practices for personal health: What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

Physical: Diet!! Got a new steamer, so I will be able to prepare more vegetables in a far healthier way.  I already use ground turkey in place of beef, but I can increase my fish intake, as the steamer is a good way to prepare filets, too. I also will try and get into the gym more or do something comparable at home.. I have weights and stability balls; I just need to make the commitment to use them at home, too.

Psychological: take the time to look inward for calm and reassurance, and not so much to outsiders. Try and not let the negative people influence my life as much (yes, this is hard and may, in fact be impossible but I can try. knowledge is power, and if I know the reaction/response, I can temper it. Mediation and yoga can help with these efforts, as can exercise and even the escape of reading or writing.

Spiritualty:  This and Psychological go hand in hand. More mediation and just contemplative thinking in nature or visualizing nature can be a great way for me to reach an inner peace and find the calm that will help me with everything from school to work to home life.  My pets are also a huge part of this for me. I can spend an hour just petting the dogs, or riding and I feel as though I have unburdened myself in a way that is hard to describe. I have always said my horse is my sanity, and I feel it’s true. She is getting older, so eventually riding will be phased out for her, but grooming her is calming, too. She will lower her head, and even rest it on my shoulder gently as if to say “thanks. That feels good, mom” (she acts like a big dog, actually. likes her ears scratched, tooJ even groans.) 

Commitment: How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

For the physical part, this is simple. Get on the scale. And how long can I work out before I hit failure, or how many reps before I hit failure? I will also consider how I feel, not just what the scale says. I feel more energetic now than 6 months ago, and hope to continue this trend. The other categories are a bit harder to predict. I would imagine I would try and determine how I feel mentally and emotionally, much like physically. Am I sleeping better? Do I get any more stress headaches? Can I get calm in a more reasonable amount of time after a stressful situation?  Do I need to reassess my workout plan or alter my work schedule to be a better fit? Do I take more stresses from work home with me? (I tend to bring work home, so I also need to temper this habit) 

There is much I can do, and I am happy that I have made the first steps to a better overall health and wellness.  This class and several before this have made the obvious connection between mind and body and while I always knew it was there, having it better defined has been the trigger to make changes and strive for better overall wellness.