Seven Components of Wellness Applied Wellness

Seven Components of Wellness

Applied Wellness

22 Jul 2014

Abstract

In some way we are all affected by the seven components of wellness, maybe we have not been affected directly but I am sure we know someone that has been affected by the different components of wellness.  During this class I have learned more things about staying healthy and I have also gone over things that I already knew but maybe I need to work on.  Here are some of the ways that the seven components of wellness have affected my life or someone that I know.

        I think health in the 21st Century has its own challenges but I also think that kids and people are more aware of things and want to change how they live then how we used to live in the past.  You see people they are really paying attention to the food they eat and buying healthier food. You can finally go to a restaurant or fast food place and actually have some healthier food to choice from.  I think there are more people trying to stop smoking and workout more.  I know for me I have never been one to eat horrible but I think I eat well than what I used too. I eat more organic foods, more raw food than what I used to and I think that is money, and what I have learned over time. I make more money then what I used to so I can afford it and I learned more about what is all put into animals and our produce.  Having my children changed me too, I want to set a good example for them and I don’t want them to grow up making bad choices with food and working out.  One thing I think we struggle with the most now days are seeing so many children overweight then what it was like when I was a kid.  For me the number one reason for this is electronics! Kids are starting to have them at such a young age now days that they don’t care about going out and playing hide and seek or chase instead they want to surf the web, text their friends and play video games.  So they aren’t as active as before and they sit around and eat junk food and before you know it they are big.  I have watched this with my own niece and nephew, most of the people in my family are not big people the women are short and petite but my nieces being the shortest of all the women are the biggest and they are only 18 years old.  It’s sad to watch them do that to themselves but I try to help them the best I can I even try to get them to eat healthy with me and workout but it doesn’t work I am not sure what it is going to take them to realize they are going to have major health issue if they continue down the path they are on.  According to the CDC.gov “childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.” Another component to wellness that we talked about this semester was our psychological health and maintaining the mind and spirit.

        Growing up and becoming a women meant a lot of changes with my body and mind.  Some of the changes were hard to work through, I don’t remember my mom ever sitting me down and talking to me about the changes that I will be going through it was something I just went through and asked my older sisters about if I had questions.  Growing up can be rough, children can be curl to one another, I had a friend that killed herself when we were 16 because she couldn’t take all the being made fun of while we were growing up, and when her boyfriend broke up with her she shot herself in the head.  I am sure I had my issues and cried over things that probably weren’t worth crying over as a child and young adult, but one thing that keeps me grounded is my relationship with God.  Growing up I wasn’t in to church and my parents never took us, once I found myself in a very dark place I knew I had to change my life.  I joined the military and my friend got me going to church and ever since then I am in a brighter place and my better choices.  I feel like now days you see more and more children being diagnosed with mental disorders then in the past, and maybe it’s always been like, maybe we are just hearing more about. Its seems like when you watch the news there is some kid killing people and there is usually something wrong with them or they are some medication, kids are even doing drugs that cause these mental issues like drug induced bipolar.  It’s important that we take care of ourselves and to know your family history, my mom suffers from bipolar and depression so it’s something I keep in the back of my head, that is some of the reason why I don’t drink to get drunk. One of the biggest seven components I need to work on is stress management and college life.

        I never went to college out of high school, instead I joined the military and got married at the age of 19 and had my first kid at the age of 21.  Now I am a mother of two and still working on completing my college degree which is much stressful to me than going to college out of high school. My stress management could use some improvement, between working, kids, school and having to be a wife can be overwhelming at times. I have anxiety issues so stress just makes it worse.  My husband knows how I am so he understands if I have to have a minute to myself during get together and other events or what not. One thing that is different from me and college students is I have help from my husband. I can see how students can become stressed trying to work, go to school and get good grades.  They stress about putting their self through school and making good grades and for some fitting in and what others think of them. I am older and I have help from my husband and the military pays for my school and I am too old to worry about what others think about me.  For me it’s finding the balance to it all.  A huge component of wellness I lack in is sleep, repairing my body and recharging my mind.