The view of being healthy and promoting wellness differs from person to person. Health can be the absence of
disease, while wellness can imply a positive state of health in holism, encompassing the mental,
emotional, spiritual, and even social aspects. Think about your own state of health. Do you
consider yourself a healthy person? If so, what motivates you to be healthy? If not, what would
motivate you to become so?
I always thought I lived a healthy life until I changed my habits of eating from a normal diet to a trash diet. I work night shift and have for the past ten years. The mind and body work together so the brain knows that I should be sleep at night throwing off my circadian rhythm that regulates the sleep wake cycle. To stay awake I drink a lot of caffeine and eat a lot of snacks which brings me to the place that I am now in which I have gained 20 pounds in the last six months. To some that may be good but for me it has increased my hemoglobin a1c. I however take vitamins which helps my immune system, so I barely get sick. I don’t consider myself the healthiest, but I don’t consider myself unhealthy. I find my balance in the middle. I am after nursing school going to work on better eating habits because it will help me to be more fit and advocating for my patients to change their unhealthy lifestyle. I can’t give them education on eating healthy if I am overweight and out of shape. It takes a strong mindset to make these changes. School adds so much stress to my day-to-day life so I have decided that is a change that can only be made at the end. It will take a lot of discipline to do it but i will pray and use moderation of food choices and meal prep to make sure that I can start this change and stick to it. I have decided to make these changes because my mother died at 49 years old. All the women in my family suffer from chronic health conditions that cause them to die at a young age and I don't want that for myself. It wont be easy to make these changes but I will start small and stick to it so I can break this generational curse that is in my family.