The professional activity that I completed was the Science of Wellbeing course.

The

purpose of this course is to teach learners about how our minds work and what factors contribute

to living well and maintaining satisfaction and happiness in our life. It explains the importance of

self-care and how our brains can be rewired in several ways to cherish moments in our life,

which contributes to an overall positive wellbeing. This course teaches these principles through a

variety of teachings, videos, and self-reflection journals. I chose to participate in this activity

because I was eager to learn more about ways to implement self-care and educate myself through

mindfulness and “rewirement.” I lack consistency in my self-care, and this tends to take a toll on

my physical and mental wellbeing. I know that as I enter my career, it is essential that I instill

consistent practices to maintain and improve my wellbeing. I cannot take care of others until I

take care of myself, and I was excited to learn how to do this in the Science of Wellbeing.

Overall, this course was extremely informative and eye opening. I really enjoyed learning

about the simple ways we can promote our awareness and growth of our wellbeing. By watching

the videos and reading the handouts, I learned a lot about mindfulness, savoring, gratitude, the

psychology of happiness, and the impact of random acts of kindness. After learning about these

topics, I was able to reflect on how they play a role in my own wellbeing through discussion and

reflection questions. I really enjoyed the layout of the course because it effectively allowed me to

learn about the topic and then realistically implement it into my own life. I practiced this during

my 4-week rewirement journal. The topic that I chose for my journal was savoring. I learned that

savoring amplifies our emotions during our experiences and promotes a greater appreciation and

awareness of our life. I chose this rewirement because I found it to be relevant in my life right

now. I am going through a period of transition where my undergrad is coming to an end quickly

and I am entering a whole new phase of life very soon. Lately, I have been too much of a
forward thinker and worrying about after graduation rather than soaking up my last moments in

college. I practiced savoring by proactively implementing it in my experiences with my friends

and in nursing school. I took five minutes at the end of each night to recap all my moments from

my day and check in with myself to ensure that I am savoring all my experiences on a daily

basis. After doing this, I felt more present in my experiences and less anxiety about the future.

Focusing on where I was at in the now rather than always wondering about where I am going to

end up really put my mind at ease for what is to come once I graduate. I found this to be a very

helpful strategy for my self-care and I am excited to continue implementing it. I also learned that

savoring the small things is beneficial for myself care. Savoring the little things after a long day,

such as a meal or a shower, can fill me up after a tough shift or day at school. This will be

essential to practice when I start working as a nurse. After taking this course I have a better

understanding of how I can change my thinking to contribute to my self-care. I enjoyed learning

the science of how to rewire my mindset for self-care as this can be implemented long term.

This experience was extremely valuable for me. I will walk away from this course with

even more tools in my toolbox for caring for myself as I enter nursing. As we learned in class,

burnout rates are high in new graduate nurses, so I strive to be proactive about my self-care to

prevent this in my own work. I will continue to practice mindfulness and savoring during the

small moments both at work and outside of my career. If I am feeling overwhelmed and stressed

about my shift, I will savor the warm shower that I get to take at the end of it. The lessons

learned from this activity will allow me to remain present and satisfied during my nursing career.

Overall, I will use the methods from this course to guide my self-care and promote my wellbeing

as I enter my role as a new nurse.