I think my biggest thing when it comes to relationships is that no matter who you are with they should have good relationships with your family. In my picture this week it is a picture of my little cousin from Florida and my boyfriend of five years. When i first met him i thought it was super important that if our relationships was going to be healthy and work, my family needed love him as much as me. He truly is my best friend, when i told him about my goals for this class he was all for helping me. So at least once a week we cook a healthy dinner together instead of going out like we use to and we walk our dog for a longer walk around the park.

What really stood out to me in this weeks chapter is how social media can play such a big role in relationships. Now a days when there is a problem in any relationship social media is sure to know about it. People will post or tweet about how ever they are feeling no matter who they hurt in that heat of the moment. One good thing that may have come out of social media and relationships is online dating. In some situations some people met there now husbands and wives through online dating.

Something else that truly stuck out to me was self-disclosure and when to know you are sharing to much. When you post on the internet it never goes away such as these blogs. If a future hiring manager looked me up online i wouldn’t mind these blogs being found. In some cases people have things they’ve said or pictures they posted that they never thought could come back and affect there future job interview. That is the dangers of the internet. When i decided to take this health journey sharing it with people never seemed like something i would do but i am glad i am. It allows you to see that it isn’t easy for everyone and you are going through it together.

Understanding how to communicate is a huge thing when dating. People get mad and its usually or different views and the other person not wanting to take it form there significant others view. Being able to identify the problem together and generate solutions are super important. From there you can evaluate the solutions and decide which one works best for the both of you. Then you have to try the solution and follow up on it to see how it truly is working for you.

My picture today truly shows me how much i miss Florida and the stress i did not have. This chapter couldn’t have come at a more perfect time in my life. Around this time of year it is officially tax season, where all your hard work pays off and your get something back in return. Well normally when i do my taxes i claim zero and then i am good to go. I never claim anything more because i refuse to want to owe the IRS. When i worked at my previous job it was a daycare, i filled out all the paper work claiming zero and went on working.

All my checks were direct deposit so i looked at my pay stubs here and there to make sure my hours were right. What i didn’t notice was in tiny letters on the top it said exempt. Which i recently just learned yesterday that if your a student your job can choice to pick that on their end and basically screw you over.

My boss assumed because i am a student that my parents would claim my at the end of the year and i would get some type of money back from them doing that. My parents never claim me so in my case i need up doing my taxes and getting zero back and ending up owing the IRS over $1,000 dollars as if student debt and other bills weren’t enough.

What stood out to me in the chapter was how stress can take such a complete toll on you mentally and physically. When i found out this happened i literally had no energy to do any school wok or go to work i was just so upset at the fact someone could do that. I was in the resistance phase most of the time just trying to wrap my head around what had happened. In my mind if i claimed zero you would think that person would know i did not in any way shape or form want to owe the IRS. I have never since I started working at 15 claimed anything except zero my parents always helped me fill out the forms.

Another point in this chapter is how stress can relate to sleep problems. When this happened i had a hard time sleeping because i could not stop thinking about what happened. My mind felt like it was constantly racing and that there was not going to be any rest. When you get a good night sleep you feel refreshed in the morning, when you don’t it can cause more stress simply because you couldn’t sleep.

I noticed that from the chapter the psychosocial causes of stress for me are more academic and financial pressure. On top of my taxes my car also broke down which led to me missing class. Academically i am taking five classes so the stress really is on. The extra money from taxes was going to be to pay off my credit cards for getting my books since the school money doesn’t come in till end of February/March.

Lesson though for me this week was that stress can absolutely take over your whole life and in doing so this week i didn’t get anything i wanted done towards my health. I didn’t make it outside and i absolutely ate like crap. It showed me how much of a mind and willingness this whole process is and this week i have learned to appreciate it more. So next week i intend to get back into it.

When looking into Chapter 2 one of the first things that stuck out to me is psychological health and how truly important that is to a person. What I noticed is that animals are truly your best friend and they can put you in the best mood when your feeling down. Pertaining to my own healthy lifestyle i’m trying to keep up with I can use my dog as a big help. He needs to go out and get tons of exercise, so instead of taking them out in the yard I have been going on walks around the beach near my house to help myself and enjoy my time with them. Having them there doesn’t even make it seem like it is exercise it just makes it seem like fun.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is really important when it comes to psychology health. He has 5 levels of what is considered basic survival needs for any human. Social needs ties in to having my dog, the sense of belonging, affection, and acceptance all come unconditional when you have a dog. They see you at your worst and at your best and nothing could ever change how they feel about you. So even though i am down on my health my dog doesn’t see it that way and he constantly is getting me to get up and take him out.

One other point in chapter two that stuck out to me were factors that influence psychological health. There are quite a few but what related most to me was a Support System, Self- Efficacy and Self-Esteem. Growing up I have always had my parents, grandparents, sister, uncle’s and aunt’s supporting me in all I wanted to do. When i was super indecisive about school and what i wanted to do with my life they were my support system. They helped me set up a plan to explore my options until I found something i really enjoyed which happened to be psychology. So with my health my mom has decided to take this health journey with me in trying to meal prep or eat healthier if there is no time. Were gonna try to get out when it is not so cold to walk the beach walk near our house.

When it came to self-efficacy I struggles with feeling like I could do it. I had a really hard time with keeping up with the work at first and with my self-esteem, I felt as if I wasn’t good enough. With the help of my support system though i was able to go on and graduate with my Associates degree in Psychology and I have now working on my Bachelor’s in Psychology with just one year left !

While reading chapter one there were more than one really important aspects that stuck out to me. The first one being “what influences your health?”, when I think about that I thought that mental was one of the only things to play a really big role. After reading chapter one I learned there are about five determinants of health that was told in Healthy People 2020. The first one is biology and genetics, this is the part that allows you to see the things you can’t change such as your gender or age. It opens you up to realizing that family history and genes also affect your health such has if both parents are diabetics you could most likely become one. When I look at how this affects my health aspect my mom was diabetic due to being overweight so she had to lose about 50lbs in order to be healthy. So it makes me realize staying healthy is something I need to do to avoid that happening to myself.

Another determinant is Individual behavior it is considered a modifiable behavior, if you do not like how you look if you have the right mindset to go to the gym often and eat healthy you can change your look. Where biology and genetics is non-modifiable because you can’t change your age or gender. Social factors play a big role if you do not live in a safe neighborhood and can’t afford to go to the gym you can’t exercise outside. Thankfully in my neighborhood I have the beach near by and can take my dog on walks to help myself stay healthy. Leaving you with not many options for you to stay physically fit. Health services is a big one, in low income areas with the high crime rate some doctors offices are no where close allowing you to not get the proper health care. Lastly policymaking helps in cases where if someone is smoking that is seriously bad for there health. Having signs up to ban smoking and laws can help with peoples health.

Chapter one also talked about mindfulness and how it can influence your health, when i thought of that i always thought about yoga and meditation. When relating to to my choice of wanting to exercise more yoga could really be a good choice for me. With the stress of work and school yoga is a way to exercise and relax my mind all at the same time. There’s a yoga studio about five minutes from my house that I could go to and try it out. Determinants of health such as individual behavior is wanting to exercise and wanting to make the choice to be healthy and eat healthy. I plan on using the determinants to help me in my favor to my healthy life style.

Something else that stuck out to me in chapter one was how to improve your health behaviors. When thinking about how i plan to exercise more and eat better it is going to take preparation it won’t happen over night. In this chapter it explains how you can use the acronym SMART which means, specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-oriented. This would play a big role in helping me organize my health plan so i can start to take action. I’ve never been one to just think it and do it I need to write it down and organize it. SMART is defiantly something that I plan to use.