Final Post

Well, we've made it! Another semester down! Overall I was really pleased with the course, I found all of the modules interesting and informative. If I had to pick one, I suppose the last module we completed would have to be my favorite. I'm not completely fascinated by the topic of women and discrimination but I love the way to gives me headache and makes me think about things. I really struggle with that because on one hand I want to yell "cowboy up" but on the other I know it's a major problem. Anyway, I had a great time this semester and this has been, by far, one of the most enjoyable online classes I've taken!

Balancing Life

I think one of the most important things a woman can do is say NO. I think so many times we feel like we have to be able to do it all. We have to work 40-60 hour weeks, be a full time mom or wife/partner, be the 'maid/cook/taxi', take a full semester load, so on and so forth. Basically, we have to be 'wonder woman'.

I think the first step in finding that balance that we need in our lives is learning to say no. The world isn't going to stop turning just because we tell our boss or spouse or family 'sorry I won't be able to do that'; even though we think it is. My mom is the classic example of believing that she has to do it all, without any help. She worked 60 hour weeks and worked towards her PhD and took care of the 'household'. She never complained but she never got to enjoy life. Ben Franklin said, "One today is worth two tomorrows"; I think it's unfortunate that so many women (men too) miss out on so much because we're always worried about tomorrow. We're worried about failing whether it's in our professional life or as a student/mom/partner/wife/sister/daughter etc. When we are able to say no and we take time for ourselves, that's when I think we see the most success.

Shame with mental illness

I think one of the most important things is support. People who are struggling with a mental disorder need to be surrounded with compassion; they need people who will stand beside them and say I am here to help anyway I can but I don't understand what you're going through. Bi-polar runs in my family and though I'm not effected by it I do struggle with depression. One thing that I hate the most when it comes to talking about what I go through is when a person tries to "understand" when they really can't understand.
Another thing that I think needs to be done is reducing the red tape for receiving mental health benefits. Granted some caution needs to be exercised but health insurance companies make it so difficult; I know when I received approval for my mental health benefits, my doctor and I had to jump through the hoops. I had to call and answer a little questionnaire, my doctor had to fill out forms then I had to fill out some forms, the list goes on and on. When you have to go through that it really makes you feel like... well, I'm not really sure how to describe the feeling.
I also think the media plays a large role in how our society views the mentally ill.

Living For The Future

When I first read the blog topic, I found myself agreeing that we need to be concerned with the future and preparing ourselves for what lies ahead. Yet sometime later I found myself disagreeing with statement.

Ben Franklin said, "One today is worth two tomorrows." I couldn't agree more. If we're always living for the future and worrying about what happens next, we miss today. On one hand there's a long list of things that could go wrong with my health (cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, etc) and I should be concerned but on the other hand I could die in car crash on my way to school. There are no guarantees and every day should be lived as it's your last and everyone your meet throughout your day should be treated as if it's their last.

I suppose my point is that nobody lives forever and if you're so caught up in worrying about the future, you miss what's important. Today. Live in the moment: carpe diem (enjoy the present day, seize the opportunity)!

Disease Prevention

I think there a lot of factors that influence women and the type of life styles they adopt and the measures they take towards disease prevention. I think one of the larger factors is their family dynamic and how they were raised. If you grew up in a house where members of your family smoked, statistically you're more likely to smoke. The opposite may also occur-you may refuse to smoke because you did grow up around smokers.
Another factor that plays a large role in our choices is convenience; how convenient is it? Can we 'do it on the run'? With so many women playing full time mom, full time student, full time employee, the family taxi service; time really becomes an issue. Marketing companies know this and play on it, which is why there are so many 'pre-made' meals. I remember walking through the store one day and I saw a ready-made tacos. Just heat and serve. I just about died on the spot. It says a lot about our society and what we value when we don't even have the time to make tacos from scratch. Back to the point; the average women rarely has time to spend a couple hours (from cutting the first vegetable to washing the last dish) to spend in the kitchen making a 'heart healthy' meal.

Friends and eating disorders

Eating disorders are a delicate topic for most people and special care must be taken if someone might have either anorexia or bulimia. My first step would be to do some research so I would have a better understanding of what is going on. I would more than likely attend some sort of eating disorder support group; hopefully I could find someone would be able to help me understand and lead in me in the right direction as to how I should confront my friend. If I played my cards right then hopefully I could take my new found friend to meet my other one. That way she could see that I really cared about her and I wasn’t trying to judge her. I think in these types of situations special care needs to be taken so the person doesn’t feel judged and they don’t feel that they have to defend themselves. Once someone gets into a defensive mood, you’d be better off talking to a brick wall. I think it's important to remember that you're there as a friend to show compassion and support, because the last thing they need is someone telling them that what they're doing is wrong, etc.

Midterm Reflection

Well, we're half way through the course! Yeah! I'll be happy when this class is over; not because of the class itself but because with each class I finish, I'm 3 credit hours closer to my degree!
So far I've been very impressed with this class; I've taken quite a few online courses and I think the organization of this class far succeeds any others I've taken! Even though I grip about writing a blog each week, I really like it. I think it adds a whole another level to the course; it helps bring interaction to a course that really doesn't have any.
I think of the modules we've completed, I've enjoyed module 4 the most. I found the whole chapter interesting and I really enjoyed researching FGM. I think FGM had the most impact on me because it made me remember that I am in no place to judge anyone else. Though I may not agree and I may believe their views to be old-world, I cannot pass judgement on them. I think the research I did on FGM also reinforced my belief that knowledge is power and it is the responsibility of empowering women falls on the shoulders of those who are empowered!
I can't wait to complete the rest of the course; for starters, I think each module will be interesting and, like I stated earlier, with the completion of this course, I'm one step closer to getting out of school!
I hope everyone has a fabulous spring break! And remember to be safe-there's crazy people out there ;)

STDs-are we promiscuous?

For years I haven't given a second thought to STDs being related to 'immorality, promiscuous behavior and low social status'-but when I read that, the memories of my up-bringing flooded my mind.

First off, STDs were never talked about in our house-there was an unspoken rule that we didn't talk about sex and since STDs are directly related to sex, it was never discussed. As a result, all of my knowledge came from friends and school programs. However, the few times it happened to come up in conversation, there was no mistake that only "hussy's" contracted STDs. This of course meant that only women were affected and they were affected because they "couldn't keep their legs closed"-I know it's crude but that's how it was discussed. Honestly, I've never really understood how my family could not talk about sex and when they did it was in the crudest manner. But I suppose my family dynamic is better left to the professionals!

When I think about STDs and its effect on those with low social status; I suppose I've always agreed. As I gain wisdom with my age, I see now that STDs knows no social order. I think those with lower social status tend have a larger risk of contracting diseases due to lack of funding, information and compassion.

As a side note, I would like throw in here that I think diseases are extremely fascinating. All things taken into consideration, they are intelligent and incredible at what they do. I'm in complete awe of them; what else can you think of that has killed millions of people (men killing men doesn't count) and continues to do so. They're tiny prokaryotic cells that logically shouldn't be able to wipe out generations yet they do. Consider this; HIV is killing the most intelligent life form on the planet. Point being that I personally think we don't give viruses the credit they deserve.

Prenatal Testing

I absolutely disagree with prenatal testing; I don't believe any good comes from it and I think it takes 'natural selection' to a completely different level. Therefore, I do not think prenatal testing should be routine for pregnant women.

The woman's' body is a beautiful 'work of art' and though we are able to understand a lot (probably more than we were ever supposed to) about ourselves, the majority of the how's and why's are beyond the realm of our understanding. Our body is coded to know when it needs to abort; when something is defiantly wrong with the embryo, our body aborts it. Why should we take this power into our own hands? So what if a baby is born and it doesn't fit our societies absurd definition of normal? That's what prenatal testing is for; why else would it be critical to have the tests done within the first 18 weeks? If the flood gate is opened; where would it stop? What would prevent an insurance company refusing coverage to a newborn with Down Syndrome, for example? Who would prevent them from classifying it as a 'pre-existing' condition? The mother knew about it when she 15 weeks pregnant.

I want to clarify that I'm not confusing this issue with pro-life; I'm a firm pro-choice. However, if a woman wants to abort a pregnancy I strongly believe that it should not be based upon some absurd test that could easily be a false-positive.

We're playing with fire and eventually we're going to get burned; Mother Nature gave us natural selection but it was never supposed to be in our hands. Why must we try to control everything? We're not supposed to know everything, so why must we try?

Contraceptives

I think some one's culture/beliefs/practices plays an important, if not the biggest, role in a woman's choice of contraception.
A woman who lives in a developing country, for example, isn't going to have the opportunities and resources available to her that allows her to take an active role in her contraception decisions. They may use natural birth control methods, that a woman from the United States may consider primitive. However, that is not to say that a woman who migrates to the United States is going to adopt our methods of birth control.
Another example of influence in our society is religion (I, personally, believe this is the single, most important factor in a woman's decision about reproductive health). It is highly plausible that a woman who is a firm pro-life advocate would not use an IUD or Plan B, for example. Whereas, a woman who is pro-choice is likely to be more open to all forms of birth control methods.
Another example of influence is a woman who practices the organic, all natural approach may be more inclined to use 'fertility awareness'/withdrawal methods.
As a side note: I, personally, am open to all methods of birth control. I think it's extremely important that women have 100% control of this issue. I don't believe that a church, family and especially the government should have any control or say so.

Sex-Ed

I believe, 100% that comprehensive sex-ed needs to be taught in our schools. I think it's extremely important that our youth arm themselves with knowledge about safe sex, STD's, pregnancy, contraception and the resources available to them. I give a standing ovation to the states (Maine, California, Pennsylvania) that have rejected federal funding for their sex education programs because they didn't agree with the abstinence-only guidelines that must be followed if federal funding is used. I just wish more states would follow suite. I think the best thing we can do for our youth is arm them with knowledge (I tend to use that phrase a lot); we're turning them out when they're 18 (on average) and allowing them to join the adult population. They're going to encounter numerous things that they've never dealt with or perhaps even thought about, they may be wanting to experiment sexually and find themselves and I believe abstinence until marriage promises that may have been made in high school tend to be forgotten. Of course, I am not saying every teenager makes this choice, some really do keep that promise they made to themselves/family/God or whoever. But part of being "young and dumb" is wanting to get your feet wet and test the waters. It's not right or wrong, it just is. And if we can help them be a little less "dumb" then I think we should.

Sex was never discussed in our house. I grew up around horses and my dad used to breed a lot of racehorses. I remember walking with my mom and we came upon my dad who was in the process of breeding a mare. I asked my mom what was going on and she just shushed me and we never talked about (I later found out from my sister) but that's how it was in our house. We all knew it happened but we never brought light onto the subject. I knew that if I had had a sex-ed program that taught me about birth control, especially the pill, my life would have turned out differently. And for teenagers that grow up in houses like mine, I think it's important that they get accurate, non-religious, science-based information.

Preventive Care

When I took the self-assessment on page 84, I was honestly surprised by the number of 'no's' I had. I believe that I take good care of myself; I see my ob/gyn once a year, I take a multivitamin/fiber/fish oil/cranberry extract, I drink in light moderation, I don't smoke, and I wear my seat belt (well, about 80% of the time). Now, for the things that I don't do; I don't get enough sleep at night (I'm in bed between 12-1am and I'm up around 6am), I get exercise but the intensity is lacking, I know I don't get enough servings of fruits and vegetables, and I take no measures to counteract my stress (it seems like just thinking about ways to de-stress adds more stress).

I know there's a lot of things that I could be doing to improve my health, it's just a matter of time. Exercising is a perfect example; when you have 2 little girls, both under the age of 4 and you're enrolled in 14 credit hours where do you steal the extra hour? If anyone as any ideas please let me know! I already struggle to take my dogs on a daily walk; it just seems like it's always something! I'm sure there are those in our class who could agree.

In terms of getting enough vegetables and fruits everyday; I just started drinking V8 (not the regular but all of their other flavors) and hopefully that helps. I also eat Luna bars; I know it doesn't count as 'fruits and vegetables' but it does help with the 'overall healthy diet'. One thing I'm having a hard time stopping is finishing what my kids don't eat. For example; we're at Wendy's and they leave a couple chicken nuggets, I'll just pop those into my mouth on the way out the door even though I'm not hungry. Or I make mac 'n cheese for lunch; I eat my serving but on the way to sink I also clean up their plates and again, I'm really not hungry. It's just impulse control!

Like parenting, I've concluded that I'm a work-in-progress when it comes to my health and the primary prevention measures that I implement in my daily routine.

Health Care-Right or Privilege?

I believe health care is a privilege; just like I believe that living in this country is a privilege not a right.

I believe that it is up the business owners to decide if they want to offer health insurance and the government is over-stepping their boundary if they mandate it. If a business chooses not to offer coverage then it is the individuals responsibility to find their own source of insurance. If they can't afford coverage then they need to apply for programs that provide insurance at low to no cost to them and their families.

I do believe that any person who is in need of immediate life saving treatment should be provided with it, knowing that they have a responsibility to pay for what they can.

If a 'health care for all' system was put into place; I think the standard of health care that is provided would be dramatically lowered. If I am able to pay for good health insurance, why should I be forced to put my money into program that would offer, what I believe to be, a lower standard of care? Plus, I believe that if people are given free access to health care, they wouldn't have any reason to take care of themselves. If they can receive free treatment for lung cancer then why should they stop smoking? If they can receive free treatment for type 2 diabetes then why should they take the steps to help prevent it? Such as losing weight. I believe that if someone is forced to pay for something themselves, they tend to think twice about what they're doing.

As a tax payer; I don't believe that I should have to carry the burden of providing health care. We are only required to provide someone with the means to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and, I believe, health care doesn't fall under any 3 of those. I know many would argue that health care is a part of life but it's not; only food, water and shelter are need to sustain life and I (as a tax payer) already provide all 3 of those things.

Health issue(s) of concern

The number one health issue on my list is severe depression. Being treated myself, I worry about those who are effected by it yet don't receive the treatment they need. Mental health is finally getting the attention it deserves, however there is so much more that needs to be accomplished. The lack of attention that mental health receives and the rising cost of health care (the cost of living as well) many people push to the back burner. Many health insurances companies don't offer coverage, and-if-the coverage is offered it is often minimal. If you had diabetes, you would get the treatment needed; so why isn't mental health given the same amount of concern?

Another health issue that is major concern to me is sex education (or the lack there of). I've talked to many different women in my age group (young 20's) and it astounds me to hear how incomplete their "sex knowledge" is, especially STD's. I think it's so important to arm women with this knowledge; knowledge is power!

I've spoken to two women:

Diane (53 years old) main concern is blood pressure. She's having trouble finding the right combination/dosage of medication to help her high BP.

Ashby (34 years old) main concern is skin health. She hardly wore sunscreen when she was growing up and in the past 2 years she's visited the dermatologist 15 times to have things examined, removed, studied, etc. She never realized how important protection from the sun really is (SUNSCREEN, hats, etc); especially for a fair skinned blonde. She always thought it was just fine to get sunburned a few times each summer because she tanned afterwards and she believed that once she tanned she was protected from the sun-wrong!