The past couple of weeks has been really though because my relationship was hitting rock bottom. Last week I decided that it was best for me to break up with my boyfriend and simply move on. Even though it was an over three year relationship, I just think that there was lot of things missing in the relationship. I think this chapter is really interesting because I explains to me what we we should be looking for in a relationship and the fulfillment that is needed to have a healthy relationship. The first thing that caught my eye was the Theories of Love. This explains the characteristic of the triangle of love, basically the three main characteristics of an intimate relationship. These are: intimacy, commitment and passion.

I felt like I have been in an empty love for months. He loves me and he is committed to me because we have lived together for over a year and had a 3 year relationship. However, intimacy and passion was not there anymore.

The second interesting fact that was really interesting to me was self-disclosure. I think sometimes it is hard to have self-disclosure if you do not know yourself. I started a relationship too young and it was hard for me to know who I actually was when I have been committed to someone since I was 17 and never actually explored myself of what I actually like and what I was looking for. I think self-disclosure it is really important in a relationship but you also need to know yourself first before you let someone in your life. Also accepting yourself and embracing who you are. I think for me it was really hard to love myself because I was trying to please someone else. I think this is when working out worked out for me because it was something that I actually did for myself and not for anyone else or to make anyone happy. It is the place where I can be happy and I work on my physical appearance, as well as my mental and emotional health. Last week I was so worked up on my relationship that I left the only thing I like doing slip away. However, this week I started going back and focusing on the things that I should actually be worry about like school and my health.

The last topic I found interesting was the coping with failed relationship. I think it is really important to connect with yourself and find someone like a friend who would support you and help you get through the situation. I also think that thinking that it will be okay and that things will get better with time and that there is someone out there who will love me and have the same passion I have and value me for who I am. I also think that doing the things that make you happy, for me is the gym, going back to working out, it definitely helps me let my mind not stress as much. Because I did not workout for over a week, it was hard for me to go back to it. I also felt like I struggled working out but it is better going and doing my best than just giving up.

When we talk about something that all human beings have had in common at some point of their lives would be stress. Stress can be defined physical response and adaptation by our bodies to the real or perceived changes and challenges in our lives. At some point of our lives, we have all suffered from stress for different reasons like jobs, relationships, diseases and others. Right now, I have been going through some personal challenges and difficulties in life that has impacted my every day routine like working out or eating healthy. I have not being able to work out five days this week, I have barely been eating and I have been lacking off in school drastically to the point that getting an A in any of my classes right now would probably be impossible. This is why for this chapter one of the things that interested me the most was the stress that relationships can cause in your life. You would never imagine how much lack of focus and sleep you could lose because of a relationship. I think it is really interesting how relationships could be eustress as well as distress. It could be an exciting stress and something that pushes you and makes you try harder as well as someone that you can lean on and help for comfort but it can also get you out of track. This is why 44% of our stress is relationships.

Another interesting fact of this chapter was sleep. When we are stress we tend to not be able to sleep because our mind is so busy thinking and stressing out about our challenges that it is hard for our mind to focus on calming down and sleeping. I think the importance of sleep was an really interesting topic because I think sometimes we do not realize the importance and also the impact of sleep and how it affects us in the short run as well as the long run. Some of the interesting benefits of sleep are stress management and mental health, motor tasks, and contributes to mental function. However, when we do not get good sleep it can affects our attitudes, behaviors, as well as our energy to perform tasks.

The last interesting topic that has definitely impacted me this week is time and financial management. I thought that maybe it was a coincidence of how my time as well financial stability this week has been drastically poor compared to my previous month. This week I have bee constantly buying unhealthy food and not making time for any of my responsibilities. However, I am hoping that by the end of this week, I actually commit to school and make up all my slack. My example of unhealthy eating is definitely because of self-esteem and interest of anything right now.

In chapter 2, we address the meaning of being psychologically healthy and based on the definition and the elements that are needed to be considered psychologically healthy, I will come to the conclusion, that I don’t even think anyone is ever psychologically healthy. The first interesting topic that came to my attention in this chapter was Maslow”s Hierarchy of Needs. I think this was really interesting to me because before I read the chapter, I wouldn’t think that all these elements are needed to be consider healthy. The one that caught my attention the most was self-actualization. This would be consider the spiritual health, which does not necessarily means religion but a greater connection with nature, someone or a greater power. I think in my case, I go through my day and do not think about the future or a meaning in life. I feel like I do not know what I want in life or what my purpose is. Sometimes I think that I know, but honestly, I have no clue and I feel like right now I do not have any spiritual connection with anything or anyone.

Another thing that stroke to me was the psychological benefits of spiritual health. Sometimes I see some of my family member and how they go through bad situations like disease or family tragedies and always stay put together because they believe in God. The chapter also talks about all the benefits of spiritual health like stress reduction and physical health which is something that we see a lot when patients with deadly diseases like cancer and how they can get through it because they have faith in a greater power. I just think that it is hard to just find something to believe in. I think that believing in something should come naturally, however, in my case I just have not find something that fulfills me like it does to some other people.

This was definitely a tough couple of weeks for me. I been going through some personal stuff and I been feeling down and depressed. Sometimes it is really hard to keep your mind in the goal or to focus in all your responsibilities. The last interesting topic for me was depression. I think because sometimes we underestimate how hard is depression and how hard is to get passed it. In the past couple of weeks I been feeling lost and confused. I been losing track of my goals and it has become really difficult for me to concentrate and get my school assignments done as well as be social and get thru my daily activities. The only thing that keeps me happy is working out. Normally, I would work out 4 to 5 times a week depending how much time I have. But since I been feeling so sad and just emotionally exhausted, I worked out 6 times this week and for a longer period of time than usual. Sometimes it is hard to face our problems, and one of the easiest ways for me to forget about them is to focus on something else that makes me happy, like working out. This week I bet my bench press goal and was able to lift 85lbs, 6 reps. Even though I was really excited about it, I think that was the only positive thing that happened this week to me. My boyfriend suffers from depression and lot of this symptoms are currently happening to him and sometimes it is really difficult to stay positive every day, some days I feel like I just want to give up. This week has been really intense and emotionally exhausting and I have actually lost four pounds in a week which is definitely not a good thing, but hopefully next week is better.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

My name is Colia Espinal and I am a junior in Bridgewater State University. My current major is Economics, however I decided to take this course because I am really interested and invested on my health. Since I was a kid, I have always been really active, from volleyball to swim classes, I have always maintain myself busy. However, since I moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I decided to take my body to another level. When I was younger ( around 12 or 13) I used to be overweight, so my parents decided that I should go to a nutritionist and lose some weight. Couple of moths after I lost 25 pounds which was a really big difference since I was like 5 feet with almost 130 pounds. Since then I been always been scared to gain weight and lose my self-esteem.