Dynamics of Health and Fitness: Essay Test #2

JOURNAL #1 Give yourself some assessment: LOW, MODERATE OR HIGH energy person. Then list some ways that your lifestyle DRAINS YOUR ENERGY at home, work or leisure. There are so many ways that you can view this drain on energy. Then consider ways that FILL you with energy, again at home, work or leisure.

SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR JOURNAL:

Are you draining more energy than you are filling? If so, that may be an awareness to consider for some reflection and whether your ENERGY INPUT AND OUTPUT need some fine tuning. What can you do to have a balance?

I think I am a moderate energy person. Working at Amazon is sort of like a roller coaster. I never know

what kind of day I will have if it will be very busy, or not busy. Usually when it is not busy, not a lot of

energy is drained, I am more on chill mode while working, however on busy days, a lot of energy can be

drained from me and when I get home, I feel exhausted. At home, I am basically the second parent

being the oldest of 4 with a single father, I make sure everyone is in the right place not only with eating

and things of that nature, but just being a good older brother, and sometimes, that can take some

energy from me, but not as much from work. I am also taking 6 course this semester and managing

everything at home after coming from work, can be energy draining. I have managed well so far and

continue to do so. Ways I can get filled with energy at work can include knowing that I am almost

finished, giving me a boost to deliver packages quicker at a good pace, or if there is a reward like a raise

or something like that, I would gain energy. Also, food gives me energy so I am not tired, pretty obvious

though. At home if I am given positive feedback of being a good house taker, and a good brother, I gain

energy and want to keep doing better. For school, I find ways to motivate myself in any way to make

sure I gain energy and not feel lazy to complete assignments. It may seem that I lose a lot of energy, not

mentioning I like to play basketball, hangout with friends, and make music, but I find a way to keep

balance so I am not on zero energy. I keep my priorities in place, which are school, work, and family. If I

am tight on assignments, I will put my free time towards that instead of playing basketball. If I work

early tomorrow, I will not hang out late at night with my friends. If my family needs me, my music can

wait.

JOURNAL #2 Please list your Top Ten Stressors in order of

priority: listing #1 as most stressful to #10, which is your

least stressful. Then take the top five stressors and briefly

explain the nature of the stressor or why you believe it is a

stressor to you at this point in time. Knowing the nature of

our stressors is the first step in meaningful stress

management.

Here is a list of my top 10 stressors:

1. School

2. Work

3. Family

4. Emotional state

5. Music

6. Self-care

7. Girlfriend

8. Best friend

9. Moving out

10. Managing budget

To start off my top 5 stressors with school, ever since I started college, it hasn’t been the easiest

road. I graduated high school in 2018 and started at Bergen in fall 2018. I finally got a look at

what it is like to be in control of everything school wise like skipping class and homework

assignments, and a bad habit of dropping classes. I lost my financial aid in 2019, and last

semester I completed all my courses for the first time without dropping, and I did well. I have my

financial aid back although I am on probation, so I am taking a total of 6 courses to catch up and

get to where I need to be, I must make sure I continue to do as well or even better than last

semester. Onto number 2 work, I am a driver for Amazon in Staten Island which is 40 minutes

away, the opportunity came in November and I could not turn it down. Recently I have been

showing up late because I did lack a little sleep because of school. I must work on getting

enough sleep to make sure I get to work on time. Number 3 family, there is a lot of personal

issues we have been going through as a family (single father, me being the oldest of 5) for the

past few years that I wish not to speak about, but with managing school and work, I try to be the

second parent, and also a house caretaker, I don’t want to set a bad example or let my family

down. Number 4 emotional state, this one is more recent, but I am concerned because I feel like

with the amount of stress I have been dealing with lately, I have not been feeling so up, not

suicidal or anything severe, just sad, sometimes I bring myself back up with motivation and what

my ultimate goals are. Lastly, I make music and it has been a work in progress for a couple of

years now. I personally believe I have potential with a story I want to tell, and with the few songs

I have already, my close friends have faith in me along with my girlfriend. I want to make

earnings from music and eventually make it a career if possible, and the lack of consistency is

what gets to me sometimes.

1. JOURNAL #3 2. How would you rate your sense of humor? Do you exercise it often? Do you exercise it

correctly? Offensive humor (sarcasm, racist and sexist humor and practical jokes) can actually promote stress. What are some ways to improve your sense of humor?

3. What is your favorite kind of humor (parody, slapstick, satire, black humor, nonsense, irony or puns)? What type of humor do you fall back on to reduce your stress?

4. What would you consider to be the funniest moment(s) of your life? 5. What are some of the funniest moments that you can recall from any situation that the mere

thought of it puts a grin or secret smile on your face? 6. In the song, “My Favorite Things,” Julie Andrews sings about a host of things that flood her

mind with joy and bring a smile to her face. What would your list include. 7. Make a list of things to do, places to go and people to see to lift your spirits.

I would say for myself I have a pretty good sense of humor. I was always known as the funny one or the

clown in my groups of friends. I usually exercise my sense of humor when I am with people I am not only

familiar with, but comfortable with as well, not really by myself. The most I would do alone is go on

social medias and watch funny content like on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. I am most of the time

sarcastic with people, racist and sexist jokes are usually only made with my close friends, always jokes at

the end of the day no matter how much we laugh about them. I feel if I want to improve my sense of

humor, is just to relax, and not take everything so seriously all the time, we only live once, we need to

laugh and live. Puns are probably my least favorite as sometimes they can be corny or just ruined. Black

humor is funny at times, but it is not something I would first go to, to relieve stress. Probably nonsense

is my favorite, something that makes me laugh hysterically and takes the stress away. I would have to

say the funniest moment in my life was in 11th grade, I was on the basketball team and it was the last

game of the season and we were at home court. I had the ball in the last seconds, and I missed a wide

open layup, and everyone saw, even I started laughing right after and hugged my coach. It is on video,

and I laugh every time I watch it, definitely something I will never forget. Something I can just think

about that gives me a secret smile, is remembering just chilling with two of my close friends watching

some YouTube videos of basketball highlights, and one of my friend in the most serious tone

pronounces a name completely wrong, and my other friend and I started dying of laughter, nearly

crying. A list of things that would make me happy while being sad would include my girlfriend, my close

friends, my family, basketball, and foods that I like. I want to travel to Colombia with my family and my

girlfriend and enjoy some vacation time, I would also love to go skydiving. I have been wanting to go

skydiving for the longest time, and I believe that is a moment I would remember forever and the impact

I would get from it would change my perspective in life as I have heard so from other people who got

the chance to experience that. Before the passing of Kobe Bryant, he was someone I really wanted to

meet for his mentality and dedication to everything he did. People I would like to visit now would be

rapper Drake and NBA player LeBron James as they are very successful and happy, hearing some

motivation from them would help a lot no doubt. I also think being alone at the beach would be

peaceful and stress relieving, just laying down on the sand listening to the natural sounds and relaxing.

JOURNAL #4 In an effort to understand how family history and risk factors impact our wellness and health please consult chapter 12 and then reflect on an implementation plan to put in place some preventative strategies regarding your family history and lifestyle choices.

Nutrition, exercise and stress management are other components of this lifestyle picture. What are some insights that you have discovered over the semester or from your own life experiences and choices that have helped you realize that--OUR HEALTH IS IN OUR HANDS.

I feel like I have been through a lot in my personal life, and I have learned a lot of things that support

the fact that our health is in our hands. I have always been to myself, and in a way a lot of what I know

now, is self-taught. Along with our health, our live is also in our hands, and that is something else I have

learned on my own basically. Our physical health will not change on its own to what we desire it to be,

we need to make that change ourselves. We need to get up and get ready to either go to the gym,

workout at home, go for a run, etc. There is no natural way to wake up with the dream body a lot of

people would want. I learned that the hard way though, for basketball, I told myself one year, that by

the next year, I was going to be able to jump high enough to dunk a basketball. I was going off the idea

that if I kept growing, I would be tall enough, just to fall short currently at 5’11. The following year

comes, and I come to see that I am still not able to dunk, I looked backed and thought of the times I had

went to the gym or did a leg workout to increase my vertical. I could only think of a couple of times in

the beginning when I first said I would be able to dunk in a year. I became inconsistent and lazy,

resulting in me not progressing at all, and I realized nothing would change, if I continued to be lazy and

inconsistent. On the mental health side, although decisions may be difficult, ultimately my mental health

is also in my hands. I believe the person you become, is based off the people you surround yourself with.

I have had a countless number of friends in high school, with only a small amount following graduation,

but I chose to keep the wrong ones. Some were still in high school, who always got involved with fights,

beefs, and problems with other people, I soon started finding myself doing the same thing when I should

not have been in those positions in the first place. I had to let those friends go, and I find myself not

getting into trouble with others as much or at all. I have also made friends since then and saw how they

were always getting into childish drama and bringing it to social media, not much of a surprise but I

found myself doing the same thing as well. I eventually let those friends go and now I have no problems

at all with other people, and I am also not on social media as much as a I used to be, and it has been

pretty healthy for me. I feel like our health is in our hands, it is just hard to make the necessary changes

to better our physical, and mental health.

JOURNAL #5 Now that you have had opportunities to read the text, compose journals, participate in class discussions and change a behavior please visit this Journal again.

Give yourself some assessment: LOW, MODERATE OR HIGH energy person. Then list some ways that your lifestyle DRAINS YOUR ENERGY at home, work or leisure. There are so many ways that you can view this drain on energy. Then consider ways that have been newly found to FILL you with energy, again at home, work or leisure.

SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR JOURNAL:

Are you draining more energy than you are filling? If so, that may be an awareness for some reflection and whether your ENERGY INPUT AND OUTPUT need some fine tuning. What can you do to have a balance?

I think I am still a moderate energy person. I am still currently working at Amazon as a delivery driver,

and recently the days have been light and not so busy. Therefore, I have been able to go home early and

give myself more time for priorities, and responsibilities I need to take care of. It is not like there is no

work to do at all, so I am still using some energy, but not as much as when I first did this journal. At

home, I still play the role as the second parent with a single father, I still make sure my four other

siblings are in the right place not only with eating and things of that nature, but just being a good older

brother, and it still can take some energy, but mainly with work slowing down, it is not as much as

before. I am nearing the end for the 6 courses I am taking this semester and managing everything at

home after coming from work earlier, it is definitely a lot easier and less stressful and energy draining. I

have managed well so far and continue to do so. Ways I can get filled with energy at work can include

knowing that I am almost finished, giving me a boost to deliver packages quicker at a good pace, or if

there is a reward like a raise or something like that, I would gain energy. They recently added a reward

for being able to deliver every package a certain amount of days, and I got a nice Amazon hoodie which

was motivational. Also, food gives me energy, so I am not tired, pretty obvious though. At home if I am

given positive feedback of being a good house taker, and a good brother, I gain energy and want to keep

doing better. For school, I find ways to motivate myself in any way to make sure I gain energy and not

feel lazy to complete assignments. Knowing I am close to end and still manage 6 courses pushes me to

finish strong. Now that it is nicer out, I have been going to the park to play basketball when I am able to,

and that takes some energy. I have also been able to find time to pursue my music, and I am happy to be

where I am right now with the amount of work, I was able to get done. I feel the same amount of energy

is being used, but I find a way to keep balance, so I am not on zero energy. I keep my priorities in place,

which are school, work, and family. If I am tight on assignments, I will put my free time towards that

instead of playing basketball or hanging out. If I work early tomorrow, I will not hang out late at night

with my friends. If my family needs me, my music can wait.