Not too long ago, after relocating from Western Massachusetts to
Kansas City, I joined a local community group. This group is
comprised of mostly younger professionals between the ages of 20
to 30 years old who all are either looking to network or connect with
other like-minded people. At this time, I had only met one person in
the city with whom I had become friends. I was finding it rather
challenging to develop friendships with people because I work
remotely and do school remotely. My friend told me about the group
and how it is sponsored by one of the local churches. Initially, I was
very hesitant to attend one of the scheduled outings the group had
planned because of my explicit bias toward religion. I had assumed
that since I am not a very religious person, I would be unable to make
friends and would have nothing in common with anyone who would
join a group sponsored by a church. After a lot of convincing, I joined
the group and met some wonderful people. I have even started to
bond with a few of them, and we now go out together on weekends
to do things ourselves.
After reading the module resources, I now recognize that I was
starting to feel more depressed due to an imbalance in the eight
dimensions of wellness. I was lacking in the social and emotional
dimensions of wellness before joining the group. The social
dimension refers to establishing a sense of connection, belonging,
and a solid support system, and the emotional dimension pertains to
coping effectively with life and forming fulfilling relationships (Garcia,
2015). I do not have family living near me, so building strong
connections and friendships with others was crucial for my wellness.
This experience showed me that it is important to acknowledge that
any biases I have are not necessarily accurate representations of the
truth. If I had continued to avoid going to this group because I held a
bias toward religious establishments, then I would not have corrected
the imbalance in the eight dimensions of wellness.
Reference:
Garcia, C. (2015). What are the Eight Dimensions of Wellness in Your
Life? Colorado Nurse, 115(1), 6. Retrieved July 4, 2022, from
https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ccm&AN=103763107&site=eds-live&scope=site
