At the beginning of the semester, we were asked to set out two wellness goals that we would work on throughout the semester in the attempt to take care of ourselves. The wellness goals that I set for myself were to get between six and eight hours of uninterrupted sleep each night and to increase the amount of exercise that I did daily and weekly. To achieve the sleep goal, I planned strategies of disconnecting from electronics at least one hour before going to sleep, finding an activity that calmed my mind, and to make a routine out of this every night. To achieve the exercise goal my strategy was to schedule out all my days during the week and plan times for all the different activities I needed to do. For example I would plan specific times for homework, studying, exercise, relaxation, etc. I chose these specific goals because I was not getting enough sleep at night where I was up late doing assignments or watching movies and because I wanted to become more active, especially with the current pandemic keeping everyone inside. I was successful at meeting these goals because I get at least six hours of uninterrupted sleep each night and I am exercising more during the week than I was previously.
To help reach these goals, I had to become more organized in my daily life. I had to finish assignments during my free time, plan out my days, and hold myself accountable to stick to the schedule that I had made. However, I was not able to use all of the strategies that I listed above. Where this course is accelerated, I am usually studying or doing assignments until I am ready for bed and those activities require my computer. Although I was not able to do this, I am usually so tired from all of the homework and studying I have done in the day that I am able to fall asleep and stay asleep with no issue.
Some barriers that I met when trying to reach my goals were actually sticking to the schedule I made during the first couple of weeks, procrastinating assignments, and making excuses not to exercise. I have never scheduled out my days before, so sticking to this plan was difficult at first. However, I was able to overcome these barriers by making myself stick to the schedule for a week and finding that it was a lot easier to get assignments done without procrastinating, exercise, and get to bed early enough to get the minimum six hours of sleep I wanted. Also, my roommate exercises almost every day, so I was able to exercise with him on those days. Finding someone to exercise with made it easier to do where we both are able to hold each other accountable to exercising even when the other doesn’t feel like doing it.
According to Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model, I was in the contemplation stage, where I was considering the need to change (Taylor, Lynn, Bartlett, 2019). I was thinking prior to coming into the program about how I would need to stay active and get adequate sleep to be able to do well. This assignment made it easier to achieve those goals where it was an “assignment” and I had to complete it. Through the semester, my change readiness has changed by moving into the action stage where I have implemented the plan that I made and have achieved success through this plan, reinforcing my decision to change the behavior that I did (Taylor, Lynn, Bartlett, 2019). I believe that I will even be able to reach the maintenance stage and continue this behavior throughout the whole program by continuing to stick to the plan I developed.
The changes that I will need to make to be able to continue to meet the goals will be to continue the changes I have already implemented. These are to continue scheduling out my days like I have been and continuing to exercise with my roommate. I think if I do these things, even on the breaks between semesters, I will be able to continue to meet my goals throughout the duration of the program.
References
Taylor, C., Lynn, P., & Bartlett, J. L. (2019). Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention. In Fundamentals of nursing: The art and science of person-centered care (9th ed., pp. 59-61). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.
