Owen Funke

Self-Care Journal
1/17/19
“Open your heart to the people you love.” This was the main message of the reflection

today. It reminded me to be open and honest with those who are the closest to me. I need to be

more understanding of other people and try to relate to them as much as possible. Sometimes I

clam up in a shell and I don’t really tell others what I’m feeling or what I’m dealing with. This

can be lonely because I feel like I have to take on all my challenges by myself. I need to remind

myself in these moments to pursue other people to help me. I have had many of the same friends

for all my life. I have mainly been in the same group and I have enjoyed it. I’m hoping to reach

out to more people over time to find new people. I really like my friends and have to remember

to be open and honest with them. I close up a lot of the time when I’m feeling down. This should

not be the case. I need to open up to those that I care about the most.

I really liked the meditation/yoga we did in class today. I had a tough workout this

morning and it was good to unwind and relax. I really like the breath work we did and how we

slowly did the stretches. I am very excited for the massages also. I think those will be very

relaxing and fulfilling. I hope that this allows me to really relax. I actually have a lot going on

this upcoming weekend. I have to do work a lot this weekend and a lot of the times that I work

are getting switched around because of the upcoming snowstorm that is supposed to hit. I hope

we aren’t snowed in but we may if a lot of the snow actually comes. I have to work at weird

times this week because of the schedule change of the games.

I have been working a lot on my coaching authorization. I’m really excited for spring to

come because that means that baseball season is right around the corner. I decided not to play in
college because I wanted to coach and I thought that playing would be too big of a commitment.

I still think a lot about whether or not I should have played. I’m thinking I may come back still

and play sometime throughout the next three years.

The rest of my night was relaxing. I was played a lot of video games and a friend from

my high school came over the visit. This was good to see him. I also worked on a lot of work for

my coaching. It was good to talk baseball with some old friends and reminisce about the high

school days. I’m excited for the weekend but I’m working a lot this weekend. I work about six

games this weekend. I hope that I will be making a lot of money over the next couple of days but

who knows. It was probably one of my most relaxing nights I’ve had in awhile.

1/16/19

“Say goodbye.” This was the theme of the reflection for today. This relates to me a lot

because I have had to say goodbye to many different things throughout the first semester of

college. I had to say goodbye to many friends as they moved away to different colleges while I

stayed in Dubuque. I did not have that many friends who went to different schools but only a

couple. I like to catch up with them and remain in contact with them because they are such a big

aspect of my life. I have not made a ton of new friends at college but I’m hoping to make more

as the second semester progresses.

The mindfulness activity we did today was great. I really like imagining where we were

in our happy place. I imagined I was at my high school baseball field. This was very comforting

to me and it allowed me to relax a lot. I think I’m going to try and do this when I feel anxious

and when I feel as though I’m losing control. I could really feel the grass and use all my senses
to put me into that place. I hate that its winter and I cannot go visit the field when it’s green and

beautiful.

I had a great morning. I got up and worked out and then I went home to visit my nephew.

He comes over once a week while my mom watches him. We played many rescue heroes and I

worked on his hitting with him. Since it is not the summer, his hitting isn’t as great as it was over

the summer but he just got signed up for t-ball so I thought I should start working with him

again. He was really missing the ball for the first half of it but he got better towards the end of

the session and was hitting pretty well. I hope that I will be able to work with him almost every

week to get prepared for his t-ball season and get him thinking about baseball again. I am excited

for the baseball season to begin because I will be coaching two teams this summer. I will be

coaching a 12u team and a freshman team. I am a little nervous but I think that I will be able to

do it. I just hope the freshman season goes all right.

I have a calm night planned tonight. I just have to work on some things and maybe play

some video games. I hope all of my friends will be open tonight so we can play some video

games and hangout.

My night tonight ended up being pretty boring. I played some video games but wasn’t

playing that well so I stopped. I watched the girls and the guys game vs luther on the video

stream. That was fun to watch but got bored pretty quickly again. Hopefully I have a good next

couple of hours until I go to bed. I think I will go to bed early tonight so that I can get up a little

earlier tomorrow morning. I have felt like my energy levels have been down lately. I hope they

increase but I’m not quite sure what else I could do because I feel that I’m doing a much better

job of eating healthy and I know I am getting a good amount of sleep.

1/15/19

“Change is inevitable. Allow change to happen.” These two quotes stood out to me the

most. One of the most difficult things that I hate dealing with is change. I am very bad at getting

accustomed to new things and trying to figure out how to adapt. I like to do the same thing every

day and I like to be comfortable in my surroundings. This allows me to know what is coming and

what is going to happen. I hate surprises and I’m not very patient. I always want to do something

right away and do not want to wait. This has been very hard for me at college because so much is

changing. It was a huge change for me to go from high school to college and I’m still adjusting

to it every day. My friend group has changed and I have met tons of new people. Some people I

like and some I dislike. Its strange to see different people along the way and to see them change.

Some of my close friends are not my friends that much anymore because we have grown to like

different things or we have just stopped seeing each other a lot and stopped hanging out with the

same people. This is hard because there are tons of memories between us but we just have to let

go of all that. I’ve had to change a lot of my eating habits while at college also. I came in eating

whatever I want and I was unable to gain weight. This changed when I got to college and I’m

really trying to eat healthier and be able to be proud of my body. I have been working out a lot

more recently and really try to stay in shape. This is the first time that I have not been involved

in athletics so I have really had to be self-motivated and be able to work out and stay in shape.

This is a change because I spend a lot of time in the Athletic Facilities between my work and for

exercise. I didn’t really have to exercise that much when I was an athlete and barely ever worked

out. Now I do every day. This is also the first time that I’ve had a real job. This has been a

transition for me because I’ve really had to work on my schedule to make sure that I keep up on

all my homework while also being able to work as many hours because I have to pay for college.
I have worked a lot this semester and working multiple jobs in order to get enough money so that

I’m comfortable. I didn’t know coming into this year that this change was going to happen but I

tried to embrace it and realize that these aren’t the only changes that are going ot occur but rather

try to make the most out of these changes and be able to find my happiness in all of this. This

will help me in the end and I’ll be able to adjust to change easier. I hope that when change hits

me it will be easier to cope with and I’ll be able to find out how to adjust easier.

I had a pretty good night tonight. I got to relax a lot which was good and I went to work.

Work was pretty easy and boring. Then I just hung out with friends and went to bed early. It was

nice to get to bed early and it will allow me to get up early tomorrow and really get a full day in.

I have a lot of things planned for tomorrow and I’m looking forward to seeing my nephew

tomorrow and being able to spend some time with him.

1/14/19

Today during class, we watched a movie for the beginning of class. This was an

interesting movie and was probably my favorite movie we have watched in class. It was cool to

see the way that an alternative high school works. I thought it was great about how caring the

teachers were and how much they seemed to care for the kids. They went out of their way to

make sure that they were getting the best education possible. At my high school, the teachers

cared for the kids but it seemed to be to a certain extent. Some of course cared more than others

did but it was not as much as these teachers cared for these kids. This was awesome to see and it

showed how these kids who have high ACES scores, have a support system in the schools. These

teachers believe in the kids who walk through the doors and they know that there making a huge

difference in their lives.

 The breakout sessions we did in class today were helpful. It made me realize how much

information there really in on the chakras and all of the different type of scents and crystals there

are. It was helpful as a study tip before the exam. I am very nervous for the exam because I just

feel like I do not really understand the concepts that are being taught. I just feel like I’m not

grasping everything and being able to understand everything. I hope that studying tonight and

tomorrow morning will help me understand all the concepts that I need to know. I liked the

breakout sessions and being able to studying with a little bit of a smaller group. I liked how most

of them were very hands on. My favorite was the yoga one. The yoga always seems to be the

easiest thing for me to grasp in the class. It is easy for me to understand yoga and be able to do it.

The hardest part for me is to understand all of the concepts. A lot of this is new information for

me so I feel like I am going to struggle through many of the concepts. I do not understand the

raiki or the chakras very much.

The other session I liked was the chakras. This was cool because it was relaxing and it

got me to unwind. This was a different experience for me because I was very skeptical of what it

was and how the stones were going to play a role in it. It just served as a time for me to relax at

the end of the day and unwind.

The breakout session with the pendulum was the hardest for me to grasp. This was

confusing for me because it was very hard for me to believe a lot of the time. I was interested in

learning it but I could not understand how the thing would move back and forth or spin. I could

never keep my arm still so I could sense that I was making the pendulum move. I could not focus

on what was happening or asking questions so it was difficult for me to master. I tried to stay

focuses on how it was moving but I could not seem to get it. It was confusing for me
1/11/19

Over the past year, I have collected a multitude of quotes. I have them stored in

documents but also place them alone the wall of my dorm. My dorm barely has any white space

and it covered in quotes or pictures that pick me up when I am feeling down. They always catch

my eye and they transfix me. I always seem to be gazing at their words and falling deeper in love

with them. It strikes me how much I love quotes and how much they can help me. I feel stronger

once I read their words and I can search for quotes for hours and not get bored of them. It helps

me to hear these and see these every day. It gives me strength when I am weak and sets me on

the right course.

One of my favorite quotes that I have recently come across is “It is out choices that show

what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” This is a quote from Harry Potter that is spoken

by Albus Dumbledore. He is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. I am a massive fiction

fan and have really love to sink into different worlds. This quote reminds me that we are all in

control of our own destiny. We can all seek out things that will make us happy. We can choose

what we want to be in this life and what we can become. We aren’t on a path that is set for us.

We can change at any time and I believe that you can always change no matter how far gone you

may seem. Our choices are what define us. It is not the words we say but our choices and actions.

We can choose anything that we want and we can choose to become a better person or become a

worse person. I have really learned over the past year that there is a lot of weight in our choices.

Another quote by Dumbledore is “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if

one only remembers to turn on the light.” This quote has really helped me throughout the past

year. It has reminded me that no matter how dark it may seem to be. There will always be light

and it will always be guiding me. This helps so much when you are feeling down. You just have
to remember all that is pure and good in this world. This will help guide you through those dark

times.

Another quote that I really like is “The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I

promise you, the dawn is coming.” This is a quotes from one of my favorite movies of all time,

The Dark Knight. This also reminds me that even as dark as this life can get, there will always be

a tomorrow. The sun will always rise anew and we’ll get a new day to live. We should not take

these days for granted. If we can just make it through the night, the dawn will come. We just

need to persevere through the night and well be able to make it to the dawn and to a new day full

of new opportunities that will enlighten us. I look forward to the next day all the time. When I’m

having a rough day, I’ll look at my quotes and be reminded how much strength I have and how

hard I’ve worked to get here. This helps a lot because it isn’t always easy, but I’m working hard

to be the best version of myself that I can be.

1/10/19

We went to hot yoga today. I really enjoyed it. It was a lot harder than I thought but I

made it through. I was surprised with how well I did. I put a lot of sweat into that and it turned

out to be fun. My body feels great tonight and I am glad I took the time to do it. I did not think

that I would like it as much as I did. I hope that that will not be my last experience of hot yoga. It

really took it out of my and I think that I will sleep well tonight. I also did my meditation tonight

and I really enjoyed that. I think I have been very mindful and present. I have been working hard

to look out for myself and to make sure that I am a priority to myself. This will allow me to

become the person that I want to be and to make sure that I will continue to succeed. It was

actually a lot hotter than I thought.

 One video that really intrigued me was done by Justin Baldoni. He talked a lot about the

male stereotype. How men should be strong and how we are subconsciously told this. I really

liked his talk because we should not all be classified in one category. We do not have to fit into

this category. We should embrace not being a good man, but a good human. We need to have a

balance in our life. We should not be worried about what everyone is thinking about us but we

should be concerned with finding what our passion is and trying to do that to the fullest potential.

We should not have to be silent when we struggle. I have many friends that try to stay bottled up

and let the world keep hitting them. We have to learn to be able to fight back, share our feelings,

and share our thoughts with the world. We all do not like to show our feelings but that should not

be the stereotype. So many men these days feel as though they need to put on a mask and to only

talk about guy stuff. We are so much more than this. We are human beings that should be loved

and should be promoted not only for the “manly” things we do but what we do out of love. We

all do so many things for each other but we should be seen as whom we really are underneath.

We all pasts that we would like to hide. Why do we have to hide them so badly? Every choice

we have made has put us on this path. The deeper we go back into our past, the uglier it can get.

It takes many guts to be able to look back at our past and talk about it. We all have pasts that

shame us and make us want to forget about everything. We all have these pasts but we should be

treated by not what we have done but who we are trying to be.

Another video that I really liked was by Luvvie Ajayi. This was interesting to me. It was

talking about how we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The only way that we

are going to grow and to leave the world better than we found it, is to get our hands dirty and to

start with the change. We need to be the first domino that will set the path. We need to enact the
change in us and how we need to not wait for everyone else around us to change but we need to

take change in our hands and be the ones who will lead.

1/9/19

Things change. This phrase stuck out the most to me. Over the past year, I have

experienced a lot of change. From going to high school to going to college and everything in

between. It has been a struggle at times but I am still here adapting to every change that comes

my way. I struggle with change and it takes me awhile to get accustomed to different things. I

have really struggled with the transition to college but am happy with it now. There is so much

change going on all around us as college students. Friends change and we grow close with some

and farther apart with others. This change is hard for me to realize because I see people as good

or bad. I have a hard time realizing that people can change and that we are not stuck in our lives

forever. We can become who we are by choice and we can find new friends and gain all new

experiences. I feel like I have been living in the past and in regret a lot during college. I have

lived with the pain of not doing certain things and not saying what I really thought to other

friends. This has gotten me to think a lot about things that I would change and different things

that I would do. I decided I did not want to live my life with regrets anymore. I want to live my

life to the fullest and become the best version of myself that I can become. I do not want to look

back at my years of college and say that I had a bunch of regrets and that I did not live it to the

fullest. I want to look back and say that I did things the way that I wanted and I got everything

possible out of my experience during college. This will help me look back without any regrets. I
want to be happy with my four years here. I want to look back on good memories and memories

that will let me remember all my friends and the good times that we all had together.

Another line that speaks to me is “those are lies, illusions that keep us blocked, stuck,

and often quite uncomfortable.” I feel myself telling myself lies repeatedly throughout the day.

Usually I do not give myself enough credit for anything that is going on. I am very hard on

myself and cannot seem to give myself credit for what I have done. When I think with the right

mind, I know that I am telling myself lies and that I am very accomplished. I need to realize that

I have made it far in the past couple of months.

Other than class, I worked out today. I really like working out. It allows me to take a

break from my rigorous schedule and to relax. Usually this would not be the case with people but

I actually think working out is relaxing. It lets me take a break and listen to music or podcasts. I

really like listening to podcasts and being whisked away in another world. Usually I listen to

fantasy podcasts. These are my favorites because I really like fantasy stories that will take me to

a different world or back in time.

I am really looking forward to hot yoga tomorrow. I think it will be a good challenge for

me. I am hoping that it will give me a good workout and that I’ll be able to make it through. I

hope all the exercise I do will pay off.

1/8/19

“Seek peace with your conscious and unconscious mind” This like really stuck out to me.

It was really interesting to hear it. I think that I need to seek peace with myself in my conscious

mind. I have a hard time being happy with myself and really enjoying my life. I get worked up

about every little thing that happens to me and I always seem to be worried about everything and
everyone around me. I think that if I can find the peace within myself, I will be much better off.

Peace will be hard for me to get because I will have to forgive myself and not be so hard on

myself. I seem to only see my flaws but I have to remember that I have positives about myself

too. Something that I really struggle with is self-confidence. It is hard for me to see myself in a

good light and I always find different things that are “wrong” with me. Another quote that we

talked about is “I’ll be happy when this happens” or “If only this happened, then everything

would be perfect.” I see myself saying this phrase a lot. I am always thinking that if one thing

could change, then my life would be so much better. I always seem to think about if I only had a

girlfriend or if I got an A in this class or something along those lines. It seems like I have caught

up in the material world and not realizing what emotions and what choices really make me. Even

if I get that one thing I’ve wanted, life still goes on and I seem to be wanting more and more.

We went over some of the concepts that get brought up in the book today also. I thought

they were really interesting and I really like this read. This is probably my favorite book I’ve had

to read for college and it reminds me how much self-care I have to do but also how lucky I am

that trauma hasn’t affected my life too much.

The thing in class that I’m most excited for is yoga. I really like doing yoga ever since it

was introduced through my sister-in-law. She loves yoga and she is a certified trainer in it. I used

to go to a lot of her classes when she taught but now I usually just do it in her house with her.

She hasn’t taught much lately because she is pregnant and can’t find the time to commit to teach

more classes. She still regularly teaches classes and taught my baseball team yoga.

After the yoga today, I felt really relaxed. I really like the tempo she went at and it was

really soothing. It relaxed my mind and it really put me in a good place. I really liked the

stretching and it felt really good. I’m very excited for hot yoga on Thursday. I really want to get
a good workout. I’ve only done yoga in a normal room but am excited for Thursday. I hope I’ll

be able to get through it though.

I worked again tonight at the basketball games. It was a fun time but I feel as though my

energy levels are decreasing. I don’t know why because I have been eating healthier and have

been trying to get enough sleep. Maybe I’m still not getting enough sleep so I think I’ll try to go

bed earlier and really try to get my sleep schedule on track. Hopefully I’ll also get to see my

niece and nephew because it would be really good to see them. I think I’ll go to my nephews

soccer camp to watch him play.

1/7/19

Today we did a lot with intuitive senses. We were able to do multiple activities that

allowed us to experiment with different things. I really liked the cards at the end of the session.

This was my favorite part of class so far. I was very skeptical at first but then I just did what she

said to do and I was able to find a card. I got the moth card and I read the passage and it was

actually pretty synced up with my life. This surprised me and lot and I really liked what it had to

say. It said that I was pursuing relationships with someone relentlessly. This reminded me to take

a step back and really figure out what friends I have. It’s a reminder to not seek relationships that

would be harmful or ones that wouldn’t work out well for me. I got broken up with in August

during one of the first few weeks of school and that ate at me for almost the whole first semester

of school. It was a friendly reminder to let her go.

The speaker today also talked a lot about different types of therapies. I thought the

muscle exercise she did was really cool. I thought of my nephew and niece for the happy

thoughts. It actually seemed to work with moving her arm up and down. That really shocked me
because I was really skeptical on what she was talking about for a lot of the lesson. One part of

her talk that really intrigued me was the part about pet therapy and how she does intuition with

animals that are close to death. It almost sounded like she can directly communication with

animals and I never really thought of that as a possibility before. That would be really cool to be

able to pick up on different signals and non-verbal to be able to communicate with animals.

Once thing that has been on my plate recently was taking a test to get a certification in

coaching so I can coach k-12 sports in Iowa. I have been working on the application for about 2

months and it has really taken a lot of time and hard work to get certified. I finally submitted the

application today. I have wanted to be a coach for a couple of years and I can’t wait to coach at

Wahlert this summer. I am going to coach baseball and I really am looking forward to giving

back to the community that raised me. I’ve wanted to teach kids how to play baseball and not

only teach them how to win but how to also become better men on and off the field.

During our class today, Christina took us through some chakras and different things. It

was really interesting. It was intriguing when she was talking about how she believes in energy

and vibrations all around us. This is kind of hard to believe for me. It’s weird to believe in both.

Science is a lot of proven facts. It’s hard to believe about being able to communicate with

animals and everything else. It was really hard to figure out what the chakras meant. This was

pretty hard for me to understand. I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to combine the

two. I’m hoping to gain a better understanding of both of these and how my own belief system

will work.

1/6/19
 Today I slept in pretty late. I was up late last night so I wanted to make sure I got enough

sleep. I ended up getting about ten hours of sleep. This is about what I get every night. I usually

like to get about 9-10 hours a day. This helps me stay energized throughout the whole day. It’s

harder to get all of this sleep while living in the dorms. Its very loud sometimes and especially on

the weekends. I’m hoping that I will continue to get this much sleep because usually during the

day, I’m still tired throughout it.

During my three meals today, I have been trying to make healthier choices with what I

eat. I have been trying to find better foods to eat and really push the fruits. Hopefully this will

allow me to have a better diet and more energy throughout the day. During the class on Friday, I

was looking for healthy ways to snack and eat while living in the dorms. This is a big concern of

mine because I like to snack a lot and I liked to eat while I’m watching TV or playing video

games. I always like to have popcorn or other processed foods. I am really trying to cut down on

some of these foods. In the dining hall, I have been trying to eat more of the prepared food of the

day instead of just eating the same thing over and over again. I think variety in my diet will help

me in the long run. I don’t think my body was responding well to eating the same foods over and

over again. I felt that my energy levels were decreasing and that I wasn’t being as healthy as I

could be. I was eating way too much pizza and I really wasn’t watching what I eat at all. Now, I

am trying to push a lot of fruits. This helps because I am trying to eat an apple at every meal and

another fruit at every meal. I’m still trying to work on eating salads. I think that next time we

have chicken, I am going to try and make a chicken salad. I think that there are many benefits to

eating salad and I should really start to try and clean my palate more. I just feel gross and

disgusting when I eat the same foods over and over again. I have also really tried to stop

spending as much money at the grocery store on items that are processed.
 I did my meditation to get prepared for the week. I really tried to clear my mind and tried

to get mentally prepared for the week. I did a checklist of what I need to do this week and when

I’m going to get assignments done and hang out with my friends. I have a lot to do this week and

I have to work a lot of hours this week too. I am trying to balance my academic, social, and work

life. I’m working hard to keep up on my studies while I am working a lot. I have games that I

want to go too also. This term is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I thought that

jterm was going to be easier and that it would allow me to get set up on the rest of my semester.

My meditation really helped me unwind before I went to bed. I’m trying to cut down on my

screen time before bed and to try and do a lot less of electronics. This is hard to do because we

are all surrounded by electronics 24/7. I try to read a book before I go to bed or do something

that will be production for my week.

1/5/19

I worked most of the day today. I work in the Athletic Communications Department on

campus and I really enjoy it. It allows me to see new faces and meet athletes. I played sports in

high school but decided it wasn’t the best to play them in college. I worked the Wendy’s

American Trust Classic high school basketball tournament hosted at Loras. I liked seeing all five

basketball games and it was nice to see new teams play. I’m thinking about making a career of it

and working in an Athletic Communications role. My dream job would be working at Duke

University. For some reason, I have always loved Duke and wanted to work there or be around

the school.

I really liked working at the Athletic Communications Department at Loras. I meet the

players and take pictures and videos during their athletic events. It really sparked my interest and

that’s why I want to go into the media studies and public relations departments. I never really
thought of social work as a career and really just wanted to really work on my self-care. I think I

can do a much better job with that. The thing that I need to work on the most in the nutrition

aspect. I think if I change that part, it will be a lot better. I mostly eat a lot of processed foods in

the dorms. This was my biggest concern. I have never been able to put on much weight at all. I

have put on a lot of weight since coming into college but I want it to be healthy weight. I am

trying put on good weight but I know I need to stop eating all the processed foods. The movie

was really interesting. It opened up my eyes to how people can still have body fat on the inside.

That was really intriguing because I am skinny but I could really see me having body fat on the

inside. This worries me and reminds me that I need to eat healthier and be more consistent with

my diet.

After I was done with work for the day, I went to do my meditations. I looked for a long

time to try to find a good one but ended up just setting a timer to reflect on my day and the past

couple days. I ended up really liking this and chose to do it again for another four minutes. This

really helped me clear my mind and it allowed me to really take all of the stress away from my

life and clear my mind. I really liked just having the quiet time to reflect on my week. I am

enjoying the beginning of term and learning a lot about how I can better take care of myself.

Later in the night I decided to hang out with some friends. It was a good night and we just

watched the NFL playoff games. It reminded me how much laughter is important in our

everyday lives. Happiness is really what is great about this world. I need to remember to find

happiness in my life even when it seems like there is none. This will help me in so many

different aspects of my life.

1/4/19
 “Share your heart with the world” This was the first line of the journal reflection and the

passage that struck me the most. I think this passage was about being true to yourself and not

allowing others to bring themselves upon you. You should show your whole heart to others and

not try to pretend that everything is okay and that you are perfect. It’s okay to not be okay and

it’s okay to struggle because everyone does. I don’t think anyone in this world is perfect.

Everyone has attributes that are good and attributes that are bad about them. We all have things

in which we wish we could change about ourselves. I think that this is what makes us unique and

what makes us “perfect.” We can’t have anyone to model our life after exactly. We all have role

models but they allow us to take our favorite attributes of them and shape our whole twist on it.

This is what allows us to be human and to show who we really are. Letting others see our whole

heart allows them to know what really makes us live. Some things won’t work well for us in this

life but it will show what kind of character you have and how you can combat this struggle. If we

share our whole heart with the world, it will also allow us to have deeper connections and deeper

relationships with others. It will allow those closest to us to find out more about us and gain

knowledge that will help them continue to bond with us. We can’t truly know someone unless

who know their heart. This is something that I struggle with. I struggle with getting to know new

people. I have had mainly the same friends for a lot of my life and I need to be able to find new

friends but to also learn to find out who people are before you judge them. We also talked a lot

about nutrition during today’s class. It was so interesting in the documentary. I didn’t realize it

but I think I’ve actually seen it before. It kind of made me feel about all of the junk food that I

put into my body. It was really hard to eat supper that night knowing that I was putting a lot of

sugar and bad carbs into my system.

 Christina once again gave an interesting talk about all of the ways we can take care of our

physical bodies. I think I need to do a much better job of taking care of my physical body. I think

that if I put good nutrients into my body, I will have a lot more energy that I can put to good use.

It will be able to give me natural energy for my workouts but also just throughout the whole day.

I think the biggest obstacle for me is to try and redo my eating habits. I have some very poor

eating habits that I know I should really try to change. I tend to eat a lot of carbs and put too

much sugar into my body. I would really think this would help with my workouts and also so

that I put down good nutrients instead of breaking down bad nutrients.

1/3/19

We saw a couple of speakers today with Ted Talks. I thought the first one was the most

interesting out of all of them. It was interesting to see how she could use a common test to gain

information on so many different diseases and hardships that can happen in life. There was a lot

of data that they said correlates with each other. I think that there were some good things to come

from this but there were also some things that I didn’t like. I thought it would be better if they

used more questions to really narrow it down. It seemed as though they were just using about 8-

10 questions to try and show who someone is and what they will become. I don’t like this

because I think each person has choices that they can make and different things that they can do

that will allow them to be someone else. A lot of these questions had to do with different forms

of cancer but I don’t really see how this would relate to cancer if these are different things that

happen during your childhood and adolescent years. I think there is some room for controversy

there and can be debated.

I thought the second speaker was interesting also. She talked for a long time on

vulnerability and shame. This was an interesting topic because she talked about how shame is the
root of everything and if you look and all this different words, that it all leads to shame. She said

the same thing a lot of the time but it was very interesting to see her take on a lot of the concepts.

I think that if a person truly wants to grow, then they need to first become vulnerable. When you

are vulnerable, there will be some sense of shame but if you are truly happy with who you are

then what is there to hide and what is there to be shameful about. You do have to become

vulnerable in order to do certain things and take chances. This will only allow you to grow in the

end and allow you to get better experiences in life. She talked a lot about shame and about how

she didn’t like her first talk that much and she didn’t want to go outside of her house because she

was shameful of how it went. I don’t really understand about why she was so upset about her

first talk because I felt like she said a lot of the same stuff in her second talk also. I took it as she

wasn’t happy with herself and the talk that she gave and so she came back but said the same

things over and over again. She tried to dissect each word and give a new meaning for courage

and vulnerability and shame. These things were great to discuss and it allowed me to take a

deeper look at how vulnerable I am and how I put myself out there. Vulnerability comes with

change and I struggle a lot with change. Whether that is change in an everyday routine our

whether it is changing with a big obstacle in my life.