Unit 3

Hello Everyone,

At this point in my life I would rate my over all well being at about a six. There is definitely room for improving in all areas of my life. Physically I am the healthiest I have ever been. I have recently lost a large amount of weight and I am baffled by how much better I feel and how much more manageable my life is. That being said, I still have some work to do. I need to lose another thirty pounds or so to be at what I feel is a healthy weight for me. I have been fighting with these last thirty pounds for about eight months. I feel that if I am continuing to eat healthfully and exercise that the weight should still be coming off, but I have completely plateaued. Therefor I am now beginning to believe that I should be looking for other ways to heal my body and get myself to my optimal health. I feel that my spirituality is an area of my life that I really struggle with. I don't really know what I believe in on a spiritual level. I feel that I am my own higher power. I need to believe in, and trust in myself to achieve my dreams and goals. Perhaps if I was able to give some of my control over to a higher power I would feel less burdened, but that is not something that I am willing or able to do at this time. This causes psychological distress at times. I sometimes feel so overwhelmed by everything on my plate that I simply shut down and choose to do nothing instead. This, of course, leads me to feeling even more overwhelmed and and out of control. I think that if I were to get better control over the spiritual and psychological aspects of my life, I would be able to finally make my physical health goals

To reach my physical goal I need to stick to my eating and exercise plan while expanding my spiritual and psychological awareness. To expand on these areas I need to be more willing to open up to new experiences. Spiritually I need to learn to give up some my my control. This will not be an easy task for me. It will be a struggle, but I feel that it will be worth it in the end. Psychologically I need to find a way to de-stress my life. Meditation and relaxation techniques are not working for me yet, so I think that I need to find a way to better manage my time. Once I have a better handle on my time management then I feel as if relaxation strategies will be helpful for me.

I tried, unsuccessfully again this week to complete the relaxation exercise. I simply cannot get my mind to shut down. I struggle with just sitting there and breathing and fully following the exercise because my mind is in a million other places. I feel that once I have a better handle on my stress and "to-do-list" that I will be able to give myself fully to the exercise.

Thanks!