Week 4

This week I appreciated the chapter on wellness.  I am a huge advocate for the idea that taking care of your body physically will promote a healthy person all together.  I have always been an active person.  Playing soccer was something I started at a very young age, and nothing beats the way you feel after 90 minutes of giving it all you have.  You may be physically exhausted, but your emotions and mind are on a high.  I think any athlete can attest to how good you feel after physical activity like that.  Often times when I’m feeling down or stressed, physical activity allows me to clear my mind and start over. 

There were a few topics from the chapter that stood out to me.  One was using pills as a solution to health and wellness problems.  I feel like nowadays people want to fix all of their problems with pills.  These pills may have side effects that are more damaging than the symptoms. These pills may cause addiction.  In my opinion, pills should be used a last resort.  I understand that there are many valid cases where medicine is a necessity.  However, often times a doctor is willing to write a prescription before anything else has been tried first.  The book referred to the idea of taking responsibility for our bodies, and I think choosing to try to improve certain areas of our life to improve our overall health is part of that.

Another part of the text that really caught my attention was the section on weight and body image.  I think everybody could connect to this section, because each and every one of us has parts of our bodies we either like or maybe wish we could change.  The author seemed to have a strong opinion on the idea that the media plays a large role in creating “unrealistic societal standards.”  I agree with that to a certain extent.  The images seen in magazines and ads are photo shopped and airbrushed.  The women in those photos have personal trainers, nutritionists and chefs preparing perfectly portioned meals.  I would like to think I’d probably have a better body if those things were available to me too.  So even though I think media takes it too far with being overly thin, I think being fit is acceptable and they should show that.  Our country’s number of obese citizens continues to grow, which seems backwards when thinking about the societal standards.

One last thing I wanted to be sure to mention was a way to connect this to school counseling.  There is a program called “Girl’s on the Run.”  It is a program geared at helping young girls create a positive self-image as well as staying fit.  Adults can sign up to coach a group of girls through pre-planned lessons and running.  I hope to at some point start this program at my school and become a coach.

 

Corey, G. , & Corey, M.S. (2008). I never knew I had a choice: Explorations in personal growth (9^th ed.). Belmont, California: Thompson Brooks/Cole. ISBN: 9780495602293.