My first wellness goal of this semester was to improve my life balance and satisfaction. To obtain this goal, I created some strategies to try throughout the rest of the year. The first strategy I set was to go to bed at a reasonable time each night. I believe I have been good at sticking with this goal. Getting enough sleep is so important to me, especially during the school year. I know my brain works best with eight and a half hours of sleep, and I usually reach that number every night. During the week, I practically never go to bed later than 10:30pm. The only time I break this habit is on the weekends, but this is partly to achieve another strategy of making time for myself. I tend to get stressed about school and put all of my focus on homework and studying. This semester, I wanted a change in that mindset to allow time for self-care. I have been trying to follow a weekly schedule of homework of Sunday through Thursday, and taking Friday and Saturday to myself, hanging out with friends, or seeing family. I have been able to keep this schedule through most weeks, but sometimes it had to be broken for studying purposes on the weekends. Self-care is important to me because it will be necessary in the future, especially being a nurse. It is best to learn the most favorable ways now as a student, so I can apply them later in my adult life.
The second wellness goal I set for myself this semester was to improve my physical health. My first strategy was to meal prep for the week and plan meals in advance. I did a great job doing this at the beginning of the semester, but as I became busier, it was much more difficult. Although I love to cook, it is hard to make time to prepare fresh meals when my school schedule each week is different. This has led to much more snacking than I had planned to do. One of my strategies was to not snack as much during the day. Although I did great with this at the beginning of the semester, I found myself buying more snack foods at the grocery store and eating snacks instead of meals. I did a great job with my other strategy of going on walks. The past few weeks have been less often because of the cold weather, but I try to go when it is not as cold. That is the extent of my exercise for the week. So, I can say I did not achieve my last strategy of doing exercise or cardio at least twice a week. What seems to get in the way of working out most is my motivation. It is hard for me to get started, especially when I have a busy day and all I want to do is relax. Once I get myself going, it is easier from there.
When it came to improving my life balance and satisfaction, I was willing to change. I believe my willingness to change was my driving force to achieving my goal. I knew that these changes were necessary for me to be successful in school and in my personal life. I believe I am now in the maintenance stage of change for this goal. My second wellness goal however, I do not believe I was truly ready to start the process of changing. I have contemplated for a long time about changing my physical health, and I have prepared to take the next step to change. It seems that I cannot get past the preparation stage and into the action stage. I think in the future, I should designate specific days to exercise that align with my schedule. This way, I cannot make excuses as to why I cannot do something. I still truthfully think that I am not completely ready for this change. This is a topic I will need to revisit within the next few weeks and decide my plan from there. This can also be applied to patient care because sometimes, you do not have a specific plan or have all the information you need. In this situation, it is okay to take time to revisit and change plans. In nursing, things are constantly changing, and it is important to learn how to adapt. One last thing that is a reminder to myself is that it is okay to ask people for help. This can be applied to my life now, and especially in the future as a nurse.
