Samantha Farina
Health Behavior – Course Project
FINAL PAPER
Samantha Farina
Health Behavior –Course Project
Professor Spencer
FINAL PAPER: Behavior Goal/Plan and Discussion
INTRODUCTION TO MY BEHAVIORAL CHANGE GOAL:
Throughout the Circle of Life book and worksheets, it has become clear that I do need to work on an aspect of myself. It is something that’s part of my personality and how I handle certain situations in my life. Certain stressful situations in my life really show me how I could improve my relationships with others and actions by just improving my feelings and thoughts. My main behavioral goal is to not lose myself to my emotions when I get upset and to not shut out people when I get angry. When I get very upset, either sad or angry, I react very dramatically and intensely. It’s sort of involuntary. I’ll feel an immense helplessness, hopelessness, and sadness, which makes me go into a very isolated state for several hours. Typically I can’t be around anyone when this happens, or I feel as if I shouldn’t be because of how unpleasant I’m appearing at the moment. Even though I don’t purposefully feel these emotions, this outburst leaves me emotionally drained and mentally unstable. I know changing this behavior will help me a great amount in my everyday life, because it will make me feel more in control, less angry, and it would definitely make me more pleasant to be around. Personally, I feel as if I’m ready to start addressing this issue and improving it. The following information is from the two mechanisms used to determine my stage of change; URICA and the Short Form.
DETERMINING MY STAGES OF CHANGE:
URICA (long form)
For this test, it overall put me in the “Action” stage, but the Contemplation stage was almost just as high, leaving the question of if I’m still in the Preparation stage. I feel ready to be placed in Action though; I should be doing conscious efforts to change my behavior. The questioning made me realize even more that I’m ready for change, by how quickly I disagreed to any questions that remotely tipped the scales towards there not being a problem, or there being nothing to fix, or that I should just deal with the behavior.
There were eight questions per each stage of change, so the grading was equals. I place highest in Action, but also very high in Contemplation, which I’m not surprised about. I do a lot of thinking and preparing for negative situations that would cause me to react in such the ways I’m trying to avoid. I don’t think placing high in the section is necessarily a bad thing, because it shows that I really contemplate this issue and it is important to me. The lowest of the stages I scored on was the Maintenance stage, once again; no surprise there. I’m definitely not far enough into this process to be maintaining anything; I would have nothing to really maintain. I haven’t made significant gains or changes in anything yet, but I’ll get there.
Preparation: 18
Contemplation: 28
Action: 29
Maintenance: 13
Short Form (Changing For Good)
- I solved my problem more than six months ago. (NO)
- I have taken action on my problem within the past six months. (YES)
- I am intending to take action the next month. (YES)
- I am intending to take action the next six months. (YES)
This way of measuring my stage of change also put me in the Action stage. It states that if I answered “yes” to statement 2 and “no” to statement 1, then I’m currently in Action. My prediagnosis of what stage I was in before this and the URICA tests was originally in the Action stage. Both of these tests currently put me in the Action stage as well, so I’m not surprised. I’m pleased that I can officially rank myself in the taking action phases.
THE PROCESSES OF CHANGE:
The processes of change vary quite a bit for the Action stage. There’s a few listed that I would never think of doing and then there’s a few that I currently already do. Here are my top three choices that I’ll be using; why I chose them, and how I’ll use them.
Exercise: This is one of the first processes listed in the book. As someone who exercises every day, I can see why it is so helpful. The book states how a lot of our emotional or mental problems are cues from a more physical standpoint. Exercising is a way for me to physically release my negative emotions and get rid of them. I’ve used exercise as a positive enforcer for years now and it always helps me the most. I currently use it to relax, or for “me time” when I get angry. It helps me to not lose my temper as easily and it calms me down a lot. This is a process I’ll never stop using. I wouldn’t call this a “reward”, because I would do this with or without a negative situation occurring. I would look at exercise as more of a prevention technique. When I exercise in the mornings, I’m always in a better mood throughout the day than if I were not to. I always am more calm and clear when after I exercise.
Relaxation: This process is for when you really have no other options and you need something that will work. For example: like if something happens when I’m in class or out in public. I can’t just start doing pushups and running to relax myself, so I need to understand how I can in a more mental way. I’m not one for yoga or meditation, so those are out of the question for me. However, I do enjoy stepping outside and just admiring the environment and a quiet setting. That seems to calm me down a lot when I’m angry, or just when ever really. When I feel like I’m going to have a negative response to something that will be counterproductive to my goal, I can’t be afraid to just excuse myself and maybe take a step outside for a few minutes. I’ve done it in the past and it usually calms me to the point I need to be productive, as well as avoiding a huge blow out of emotions. This is a process I need to start utilizing a bit more of.
Counter-thinking: This is a process I’m either really good at, or really bad at. It’s the process of consciously altering your thoughts and not having negative thoughts run through your mind so often. If negative thoughts do run through your mind, you need to counter them with a dose of reality or something a bit more fitting. Like when I get really angry about money and college tuition, I need to counter it with a more logical thought. Ex: “By the time I get out of this place I’m not going to have a penny to my name… I’ll need to work for a few years until I can be financially stable again.” In that thought, I’m clearly really worried and angry about my financial situation from being a student. However, I countered it with a more realistic thought that will probably be happening in the future and will be more than doable. This process is definitely more personal and easy to skip, but I think it will help me a lot if I can keep my head on straight and look at the facts instead of the negative.
TRACKING MY PROGRESS:
In order to track my progress I plan to get a little mini calendar or journal. Every day that I have a negative behavior outburst I’ll track it and then elaborately explain what happened, why, and when. My reaction to the situation and what I did or did not do to calm down will be noted as well. I’ll also be pointing out the situations that make me upset and try to see which ones affect me the most. Since this is a personality issues, I’m also going to write down any sort of negative, angry outbursts I have for “no reason”. There’s those days where I’ll wake up and be in a less than ideal mood for reasons I can’t discover. Those days I’m usually more than irritable. I’ll be tracking my whole personality and all my negative moods.This is something that will make me a happier person, as well as other people happy.
DISCUSSION OF PROJECT:
In order to be successful with this behavior change, I needed several processes of change that helped me along the way. The strategies that I found for my particular action were very helpful and just upon understanding what they were I could see how they were going to assist me. The processes were Exercise, Countering thinking and Relaxation. Right away I can put it together in my head how adapting myself to these would be beneficial. When I felt very out of control with my emotions, these processes really helped to bring me back to my senses. They put me back in the correct perspective, which is very important to my behavior change.
The process that helped the most and continues to help me is exercising. Exercising frees me from my thoughts for a little while and allows me to focus on just one thing at the time. While I’m running or lifting, I’m not at all thinking about any issues in my life that are bothering me, nor am I in any way fueling the fire. The main objective during my workouts is to physically perform to the best of my abilities. The idea of improving and getting stronger or faster makes me extremely happy, which is a great tool when I’m having negative feelings. Exercising can also be “preventative”. I find that when I spend my morning exercising, I’m not nearly as irritable throughout the day and situations don’t affect me as much.
The process that helped me the most during a particularly negative situation was counter-thinking. This truly helped me a lot and I noticed pretty significant changes when I actively used this approach. It allows me to get a grip on reality and to correct my perspective. Typically, when I get extremely angry and cannot calm down, it’s because I literally can’t stop thinking about what got me to that point and it’s like an endless cycle. Counter-thinking takes the situation and basically leads me away from it all together, or will give me more of a pro/con visual. Unfortunate things happen, that’s nothing new, but seeing those situations in a way that seem more fixable and controllable is extremely calming. Once I could mentally grasp my thoughts and understand that I had control over my personal reaction, the uncontrollable situation didn’t seem as bad as before, because now I can at least control something.
According to my personal history, I’ve always had a hard time with counter-thinking. It was one of those things that I could either do and it helped, or I just couldn’t and that was the end of it. This behavioral goal project has actually taught me how to utilize this process and get the result I was looking for. It’s amazing what the mind will do with just a few thoughts; they can change a whole day. Without this process I wouldn’t have been nearly as successful with my goal as I was. This was the tool I needed to add into my life and now that I understand how to possess it, I know I can be even more successful in my behavior.
With the help of my processes I definitely feel as if I progressed into a “more comfortable” stage of Action. I originally was in Preparation and just at the mark for Action. It was a close call and three months ago when we started all this I was not where I am now. Even just one month ago I wasn’t at the point I am now. I’m more comfortable with being in the Action stage. I feel as if I don’t have to try as hard as I use to in order to remain calm, let alone completely prevent a negative situation. Even though I’ve progressed, I’m still in Action and realistically I’ll be there for a while. I accept the fact that this is something I’ll have to progress even more in until I’m 100% successful and can graduate into the Maintenance stage. Honestly, that stage may never come, but I’m fine with actively correcting myself and being better that way.
In our Wellness Coaching sessions I found myself feeling somewhat silly and uncomfortable the first half of them. I didn’t exactly know how to explain what I wanted to change without sounding like some hyped-up angry crazy person. I didn’t know the other girls either, which isn’t a problem, but I didn’t want to come off too strong right off the bat either… I’m good at that. However, the girls were very understanding and they made me laugh when I felt like I was isolated. Sheryl was my main coach every time and I truly value her opinion and appreciate what she has to say. She never panics and always seems happy and calm, which is contagious. She listened to me and heard me out; I didn’t feel like I was talking too much. Typically, I feel as if I talk way too much about my feelings because of how open I am. In this group though, I never felt that way. I felt like what I had to say was understood and that everyone could relate to it one way or another.
The entire coaching approach taught me a lot about listening. Like I said above, I tend to speak my mind a lot which results in me talking a lot. I learned that I need to sometimes just be quiet and listen to what other people have to say, because they might actually know what they’re talking about. With that being said, I also learned that I need to not be so stubborn with my personal life. In the future, I can see myself using this type of approach to better connect with people or clients. The skill is worthwhile to have and it can help more than one person at a time, which is extremely important. I’ve always been a social person and it’s easy for me to talk to people, but the coaching sessions taught me that it’s not always about talking; it’s about listening.
In all honesty, I was very skeptical of this “project” at first and didn’t think I’d get anything out of it. I didn’t think I’d get anything out of the coaching sessions either, but I did. I didn’t think I’d positively change myself to react and handle things differently, but I did. The past few months have changed the way I’ve been, the way I’ve always been. I learned how to control myself better and how good that feels. I’ve always prided myself at having great self control, but when it came to anger and immense emotions; I was always at their will.
Understanding how to influence those feelings with thoughts is a skill I now have. Taking a step back and looking at a situation instead of just feeling it are two completely different things. Counter-thinking and preventative actions, along with utilizing other’s opinions made my progression in this behavior goal possible. I’ll continue to nurture them and grow better as a person. If I could change one thing about this entire process it would just be my perspective on other people and relationships. I didn’t truly realize how much other people could help me be successful with emotional burdens. That realization will probably help me more than ever and I’m thankful to see it now, even after the fact. It is something I can take with me to better myself, as well as the other skills I’ve learned this semester.
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