My Third Day
I attended my Personal Health class for the first time on Wednesday. I was feeling somewhat better prepared to tackle a new set of people, having done it three times in the previous two days.
The class of 45 people slowly filled up and right on time the instructor, Mrs. W, arrived. At first I thought that she must be a student teacher because she looked so young but after listening to her for a while I think she might be in her low to mid 30s. Mrs. W is a very energetic, vivacious person that makes health seem exciting.
She gave us two assignments that will be fulfilled over time and will be due several months from now. The first project is the Health Behavior Change Project. Everyone has to pick one health behavior to try to change. She has seven or eight different steps to the project and we will be graded, not on our success, but on the detail of the plan.
The second project is slightly more disturbing to me. Mrs. W gave us a list of support groups that are in the area. She wants us to pick one group and attend one meeting and then write a two-page paper for her on our experience. The purpose of this is to make us aware of the resources available to us.
One of the problems that I'm encountering is that most of the groups meet during the week and that is when I'm either working or attending class. If I happen to get out of class early one night, I may be able to go to one that is close by.
Another problem is going to be choosing just the right group. I know that the Prostate Cancer Support Group is out, as well as the Sex Addiction Group. (She told us of a student that had attended the Sex Addiction Group and had taken his girlfriend with him just for company. Not a good idea. It was quite awkward for both of them. He told Mrs. W that if he had it to do over, he'd go alone.) I'm not terribly inclined to attend Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous (although the Happy, Joyous, and Free group sounds interesting and how's "Rush Hour" for a narcotics group name?)...I'm just not sure how I'd deal with it. Mrs. W really encouraged the ladies (no men allowed) to attend the La Leche League, the breastfeeding support group. But alas! I shall be in class at that time.
Some of the groups that I'm considering are the Eating and Weight Disorders, Caregivers (now caring for old folks, that's something I can deal with), Women in Recovery, and the Single Parents group. The Amputees, Love & Relationship Addicts, & Gastric Bypass groups could be interesting but they meet at bad times for me. If I could choose purely for interest's sake and not have to deal with the Comfort Zone issue, I'd probably choose the Love & Relationship Addicts. Any volunteers to attend a meeting with me??
Mrs. W is very big on getting into small discussion groups. One of the first things that she had us do was get together with the person across the aisle and find out name, hometown, major, and one interesting fact; then we got to introduce each other. They started on the opposite end of the room from me so by the time I got to introduce Megan, I blanked out for a second on her interesting fact. I thought super-hard for a bit and came up with it...she loves the outdoors, camping, & hiking. She hasn't totally decided on her major so she is taking classes in two different areas, geology and fashion. Go together, don't they?
During class, we had to get into our small discussion groups at least three or four times. My group is Megan and a lady that is six months pregnant. I believe that we are the three shy people in class. We kinda sit there for a minute or two busily looking at whatever we are supposed to be discussing and then someone will manage to come up with something to say about it and we'll have a discussion for a minute or two; then we lapse into silence while the classroom around us is just buzzing with discussion. Another minute or two goes by and then someone else manages to say something and we all agree and say a few more things and then, here comes that old silence again!! Just can't get away from it. I try so hard to think of something clever and interesting to say but I think that Clever and Interesting stay in the car when I go to class. I'm not too sure that they would catch on even if I did manage to come up with something witty.
Mrs. W was giving a few of the rules for class and was expounding on the "No Visitors" rule. "We'll be discussing sensitive issues in class and we'll all be more comfortable without visitors. Alcohol, drugs, sex...all of the good stuff!" she said with a laugh. I figure that I might just as well wash my Comfort Zone real well and pack it in moth balls for the foreseeable future. I don't think I'll be in it a lot for the next four months, at least.
The class of 45 people slowly filled up and right on time the instructor, Mrs. W, arrived. At first I thought that she must be a student teacher because she looked so young but after listening to her for a while I think she might be in her low to mid 30s. Mrs. W is a very energetic, vivacious person that makes health seem exciting.
She gave us two assignments that will be fulfilled over time and will be due several months from now. The first project is the Health Behavior Change Project. Everyone has to pick one health behavior to try to change. She has seven or eight different steps to the project and we will be graded, not on our success, but on the detail of the plan.
The second project is slightly more disturbing to me. Mrs. W gave us a list of support groups that are in the area. She wants us to pick one group and attend one meeting and then write a two-page paper for her on our experience. The purpose of this is to make us aware of the resources available to us.
One of the problems that I'm encountering is that most of the groups meet during the week and that is when I'm either working or attending class. If I happen to get out of class early one night, I may be able to go to one that is close by.
Another problem is going to be choosing just the right group. I know that the Prostate Cancer Support Group is out, as well as the Sex Addiction Group. (She told us of a student that had attended the Sex Addiction Group and had taken his girlfriend with him just for company. Not a good idea. It was quite awkward for both of them. He told Mrs. W that if he had it to do over, he'd go alone.) I'm not terribly inclined to attend Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous (although the Happy, Joyous, and Free group sounds interesting and how's "Rush Hour" for a narcotics group name?)...I'm just not sure how I'd deal with it. Mrs. W really encouraged the ladies (no men allowed) to attend the La Leche League, the breastfeeding support group. But alas! I shall be in class at that time.
Some of the groups that I'm considering are the Eating and Weight Disorders, Caregivers (now caring for old folks, that's something I can deal with), Women in Recovery, and the Single Parents group. The Amputees, Love & Relationship Addicts, & Gastric Bypass groups could be interesting but they meet at bad times for me. If I could choose purely for interest's sake and not have to deal with the Comfort Zone issue, I'd probably choose the Love & Relationship Addicts. Any volunteers to attend a meeting with me??
Mrs. W is very big on getting into small discussion groups. One of the first things that she had us do was get together with the person across the aisle and find out name, hometown, major, and one interesting fact; then we got to introduce each other. They started on the opposite end of the room from me so by the time I got to introduce Megan, I blanked out for a second on her interesting fact. I thought super-hard for a bit and came up with it...she loves the outdoors, camping, & hiking. She hasn't totally decided on her major so she is taking classes in two different areas, geology and fashion. Go together, don't they?
During class, we had to get into our small discussion groups at least three or four times. My group is Megan and a lady that is six months pregnant. I believe that we are the three shy people in class. We kinda sit there for a minute or two busily looking at whatever we are supposed to be discussing and then someone will manage to come up with something to say about it and we'll have a discussion for a minute or two; then we lapse into silence while the classroom around us is just buzzing with discussion. Another minute or two goes by and then someone else manages to say something and we all agree and say a few more things and then, here comes that old silence again!! Just can't get away from it. I try so hard to think of something clever and interesting to say but I think that Clever and Interesting stay in the car when I go to class. I'm not too sure that they would catch on even if I did manage to come up with something witty.
Mrs. W was giving a few of the rules for class and was expounding on the "No Visitors" rule. "We'll be discussing sensitive issues in class and we'll all be more comfortable without visitors. Alcohol, drugs, sex...all of the good stuff!" she said with a laugh. I figure that I might just as well wash my Comfort Zone real well and pack it in moth balls for the foreseeable future. I don't think I'll be in it a lot for the next four months, at least.
posted by Sharon @ 9:51 PM
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