Personal health assessment and lifestyle reflection through journal entries

Psychology Journal

My results showed a disease-free life expectancy of 81.9 years, an overall life expectancy of 90.4 years, and a biological age three years younger than I actually am. Just over a year ago, I committed to making some healthy lifestyle changes, and that assessment makes me feel as if they may be paying off with better health. However, I do not feel that the results are an accurate reflection of my probable health future. While the assessment tool asked me about my own health, it did not ask about family history. I have a strong family history of two types of highly hereditary cancers, heart disease, and diabetes. While I would love to make it to 81.9 years of age disease-free, I simply do not think that will happen.

I am self-directed in my personal relationships. I see many people settle in their romantic relationships, friendships, and relationships with family, but I do not think that mediocre is an appropriate relationship standard. While I keep a pretty wide network of acquaintances, I am trying hard to make sure that I work on strengthening friendships with people who are able and willing to provide the same level of support in a friendship that I am able to provide. This has meant letting go of some "user" friends, whose company I enjoyed, but it has led to an improved quality of life.

Journal Entry 2: Self-Affirmation am already a very positive person. I think that I am a good person who deserves good things, but I have had an inordinate amount of unusually tragic things occur during my lifetime. I could choose to dwell on the fact that having all of these things occur to one person is so statistically improbable that it seems like I am cursed, but I do not. Instead, I purchase a Mega-Millions ticket at least once a week, and remind myself that since I have had several negative "billion-to-one" type things happen in my lifetime, I am due for a really positive "billion-to-one" type thing. Of course, I am not planning my financial future with those imaginary lottery winnings, but it helps me remember that anything is possible. I take that approach in all areas of my life, and really do not see a way for me to be a more positive person.

Journal Entry 3: Health Habits

My results suggested that I would live to 87 years, which seems like a perfectly good life expectancy to me. The results suggest that I do not handle stress very well, which is certainly true. The results say that I need to reduce my workload in order to extend my life expectancy, but I do not anticipate being able to do so for a pretty significant period of time. Little habits, such as always using sunscreen and always flossing would improve my health; I already do these things, but am known to miss them from time-to-time. Like many people, my biggest health struggle is keeping a healthy weight, but I am currently working towards that goal.

Journal Entry 4: Volunteerism am a very active volunteer. I was motivated to participate in volunteer work because of a desire to help other people. I researched the local opportunities and decided that I would be a good crises counselor. I grew up in a violent home and decided to volunteer with people who are dealing with the after-effects of violence in their lives. As a result, I volunteer with a local rape crises center. I knew that I would be too close to the issue if I volunteered with children or adult victims of family violence, but thought that I had enough life experience to really empathize with people who felt as if some part of themselves had been destroyed by violence. I am motivated to continue with my volunteering experience because of a caller I had one night when I had hotline duty.

The caller had been raped several years before and was a repeat caller, who just needed to talk when the nightmares came. In the morning, at the end of my volunteer shift, she phoned me back to thank me and to tell me that, after talking to me, she had been able to sleep through the night for the first time in years.

Journal Entry 6: Stress

At this point in my life, I am dealing with some very stressful situations, which I have no control over, including the death of a family member. However, I am always being told that I cope with stress very well, and the results of my test verify those statements. I use exercise as a means of coping with stress, which is helpful. I also turn to friends, family, and an online support group for help coping. Though I have not sought out a mental-health professional in the past year, I would do so if I felt that it would help me to do so. I use both problem-solving and information seeking as ways of coping with stress. The test warned me that problem-solving skills might actually increase anxiety, because not all stressful situations can be solved or controlled. However, I believe that one can apply problem-solving skills to managing a stressful situation, which is what I believe that I do. The results did not address the fact that I feel very angry when I deal with stress or suggest to me how to deal with that.