The Wellness Plan

In 2019, I was diagnosed with a mental health issue known as anxiety and depression. I refused medication and treatment because of two reasons, not being sure if my healthcare insurance would cover the costs and my assumption of the illness going away on its own. In my opinion, I did not take the diagnosis seriously and I went on with my life. At this time, I was experiencing my last year at Middlesex Community College in my associate’s degree program for liberal arts and a concentration in psychology. I did not want to think that I could become emotionally compromised. Over time, I withdrew from socializing with friends, family, and career opportunities. Here, I started to feel intense episodes of worry, low self-esteem, and sadness and I wasn’t sure if it was from being socially withdrawn, the diagnosis being poorly treated, or a mixture of both. But, when people asked about my wellness I began to blame my emotional patterns on my menstrual cycle or the weather. I had many people fooled, believing that my mental health was not at any kind of potential risk. However, karma does come around and I found myself to be the fool, curling into a ball on my grandma’s kitchen floor and wailing about my life. I had an episode in front of my family. It was scary, ugly, and also the truth. But, this is where I realized that my mental health should be taken seriously and psychological attention was needed as soon as possible. Within a week, I found free counseling sessions through my college resources and signed myself up. It was the first step that changed my life forever.

On December 30, 2020, I had reflected on ways to better myself as an individual battling mental health issues. Counseling was a great way to release tension and talk about alternatives from easing my emotions. Yet, I felt like there were so much more options for dealing with anxiety and depression. Finally, I had concluded that counseling was just the beginning of coping with mental health issues. I realized that I also needed to use the teachings that were provided by my Professor, the wellness wheel (this invention was created by Bill Hettler, the co-founder of the National Wellness Institute). I remembered my teacher explaining that a wellness wheel is an evaluation of eight aspects of life that a person would like to improve by setting goals. I wanted a wellness plan that would work because it was fun. Therefore, I included two of my most favorite hobbies (reading and dancing) in my wellness plan. Then, I drew a circle, divided it into eight sections, and made sure that each section had enough space to write one goal. The sections were labeled: (1) Financial (2) Physical (3) Environmental (4) Occupational (5) Emotional (6) Spiritual (7) Intellectual (8) Social. After an hour, here is what my New Year’s resolution looked like:

(1) Financially, my goal will be to save money.

(2) Physically, my goal will be to begin dancing more often.

(3) Environmentally, my goal will be to keep a clean space.

(4) Occupationally, my goal will be to find a job that is COVID-19 friendly.

(5) Emotionally, my goal will be to express my feelings to friends, family, and peers.

(6) Spiritually, my goal will be to connect with my religion on a daily basis.

(7) Intellectually, my goal will be to read more books.

(8) Socially, my goal will be to attend more local events.

Once I was finished creating these wellness goals I felt better about entering the new year. It also felt amazing to have other ways to improve the outcome of my mental health. In 2021, I am doing well with my wellness plan and I am proud of my results. After following this plan for a couple of weeks, I have seen positive changes in my mood and how I deal with my diagnosis. Lately, I have been dancing more often as an outlet when I feel worried, sad, or uncertain. Out of all the options for coping, the physical aspect of wellness has helped me tremendously. In fact, it has inspired me to create a new business venture. I want to create a platform called: PSYCHIDANCE. This will be a business that specializes in teaching dance to support those with anxiety and depression. Through this business, I want to share my story because mental health is important and I learned my lesson when I did not take it seriously. In closing, I am hoping to stick to dancing this year because it helped me the most, and a great way of doing this is dedicating one hour a day to this hobby.