NURS 478 Self Care Journal

Your Name: _____Ashley Baire________________________ Your Buddy: ____Morgan Postal____

Select any evidence-based intervention/recommendation to follow (do this over 8 weeks):

 Sleep at least 7 hours per night before and after a work or school day
 Practice mindfulness meditation for at least 10 minutes everyday
 Complete at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, such as biking under 9
mph, dancing, jogging, or playing tennis; or complete 60 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week,
such as running, kickboxing, or jumping rope.
 Participate in two professionally led yoga classes for one hour or longer per week
 Spend up to 2 hrs in Nature or longer per week
 Other (Must get your Clinical Faculty approval first, and activity should be up to 2 hrs or longer
per week)

Complete Weekly journal entries:

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
1 From 09/23 to 09/29, I will practice ten minutes of meditation every day before I get out of bed in the
morning.

Comments on Activity:
I use an app on my cell phone that provides ten-minute stress management, anxiety relief, and positive
reinforcement meditations. The consistent use of meditation for seven straight days increased my ability
to be calmer under pressure. I breathed during moments of fear, and uncertainty to center myself during
my preceptorship. The centering of myself allowed me to engage in conversations with a clear mind and
it also lent me to make successful connections between the clinical setting and between that of
academia. Meditation first thing in the morning prevented me from going on my social media outlets.
Social media has been shown to increase anxiety so without visiting those websites, I felt even calmer
near the end of the week.
Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):
2 From 09/30 to 10/06, I will practice sleeping at least seven hours per night.

Comments on Activity:
This activity allowed me to enter REM sleep and not only improved my complexion but improved my
ability to focus the following day. The consistent schedule of getting seven hours and more of sleep
regulated my mood. Previous to making this self-care technique routine, I would wake up for clinical
and often times would feel sluggish. I felt refreshed towards the middle of the week after I introduced it
into my sleep regimen. My sleep hygiene improved, as well. While I do have a set amount of things I do
in the evening and morning to get ready for bed and my day, there would be some days I would skip a
few things because of the lack of sleep I knew I was going to get ahead of time. This habit has
dramatically reprioritized my overall sleep hygiene.

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 Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

My friend Morgan explained that it was difficult for her to manage her sleep and sleep hygiene when
she was working night shifts for her preceptorship. It helped her to sleep during the day, rather than
feeling the need to do homework during the day. It was very beneficial for her to have structure during
this time.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

3 From 10/07 to 10/13, I will spend up to two hours in nature or longer during one outing.

Comments on Activity:
This week, I traveled to Mount Lemon Ski Valley Resort, where my friends and I enjoyed the outdoors
and festivities. It was very helpful to be one with nature because it had yet again another euphoric effect
that took us outside of the realm of the classroom and our chairs. It made me realize how beneficial it
was to be in nature and how true the nursing integrative principle is. We were more energized when
getting home to do homework than we had ever been before. I felt liberated from not having access to
Wifi and being disconnected from social media. There is an ongoing benefit of being with friends,
without having to have constant communication, but just being able to be on the mountain, and enjoying
nature. I performed mindfulness while on the mountain as well.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Morgan, too, felt liberated from not having access to social media. Morgan felt as though this
experience heightened her other senses. She could smell and hear the soothing sounds of the trees shift
with the breeze. It helped her to clear her mind and was similar to the background instrumental music
used with studying.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

4 From 10/14 to 10/20, we completed at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per
week, such as biking under nine mph, dancing, jogging, or playing tennis; or complete 60 minutes of
vigorous-intensity exercise per week, such as running, kickboxing, or jumping rope.

Comments on Activity:
Unfortunately, with the test and the opportunity for a job interview, I did not meet obtaining all 150
minutes of moderate-intensity aerobics. Although I did not meet my goal, I supplemented with eating a
balanced diet. Having Morgan as a gym buddy made the process of going to the gym easier because she
participated in specific exercise activities with me. I have insecurities sometimes about going to the gym
and not knowing what to do exactly when I get there, but I realized how empowering it felt to hold my
own when I used an app that instructed me how to use each machine.

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 Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Previous to this experience, Morgan would find herself procrastinating or choosing to do other
productive activities that she thought were more valuable. Morgan’s mood was instantly improved when
she finished her gym outings because having a friend there with her kept her accountable. She felt more
energized and ready to continue with the rest of her day.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

5 From October 21nd to October 27th, Morgan and I went to two professionally led yoga classes each being
one hour long for a duration of two hours total. We went to one class together and one class
individually.

Comments on Activity:
Yoga is a very wonderful, relaxing physical activity. We went to Yoga on 4th Ave in Tucson, Arizona.
The sessions incorporated mindful meditation and spirituality into the act. It was nice to exercise
vocally, as well, letting out the stress that had been bottled up from over the course of the week. I felt
very liberated by performing the Srivastava pose because it allowed me to remain calm and meditate.
The endorphins that were stimulated from this exercise left me feeling elated and less stressed. It can
sometimes be intimidating to go to a class alone, but it was very nice and easy to go with Morgan and
with another friend. My second class that I took was less nerve wracking because I knew how to do
some of the basic stretches.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Morgan reported feeling that the instructor’s guidance was intimidating. She did feel like her joints
moved better afterwards and that she felt calmer than before. Yoga to Morgan was centering for her.
She explained her mother is a yoga instructor and that yoga has been a very helpful remedy her whole
life.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

6 From 10/28 to 11/03, Morgan and I participated in mindfulness with a goal of ten minutes per day for an
entire week.

Comments on Activity:
This activity was very wonderful because we have had plenty of practice with this self-care activity in
the past. I feel as though the more I do this exercise, the more I become present in my everyday
activities. I have become much more non-reactive to situations that would use to make me overreact. I
have been able to breathe before becoming overwhelmed and it has helped tremendously. I used my
phone app to practice 4-7-8 breathing and mindfulness.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Morgan also found herself too, being more reserved and calmer in situations that were unknown
because she practiced being present for 10 minutes a day for 7 days a week. She finds that she has been

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 able to be more present at the dinner table when visiting family. More in-depth conversations have been
able to be made because she is solely focused on those that are in front of her.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

7 From 11/4 to 11/10, Morgan and I chose to implement 150 minutes of exercise a week. Together, we
came to the consensus to go to the gym three times, exercising for at least 50 minutes, each time for a
total of 150 minutes of exercise in a week.

Comments on Activity:
This activity was very rewarding because, again, as seen from meditating, I began to feel more present
with the people I interacted with and with the activities I participated in. The endorphins that are
released from exercising make me feel more alert and make me ready to tackle the day. I feel more
confident in myself after these bouts of exercise because I know that I internally am doing something
very good for my body. There are a lot of wonderful experiences I have taken part in over the course of
these 7 self-care weeks, but I believe that this is by far my favorite activity. I feel as though making this
a ritual in my everyday life will help to prevent burnout. I only did 100 minutes of working out, and as
such, did not meet my goal of exercising for 150 minutes this week.

Buddy Check-In Comments: (Note Key Comments from Conversation)

Morgan could empathize with how I was feeling because she too felt the same positive effects that
working out has on her body. Without any apprehension, she often talks about wanting to work out
more than 3 times a week, but with school and planning for the future, she has not been able to yet. She
has impressed herself with not only her improvement in mood, but her improvement in muscle
definition she has noticed on her calves. Morgan met all 150 minutes of working out for the week.

Week Description of intervention implemented this week (include frequency/length of time):

8 For the week of 11/11to 11/17, Morgan and I chose to explore Himmel park to have a pick-nick for two
hours for one outing.

Comments on Activity:
This experience was very beneficial because I was able to be amongst the healing effects of nature, all
while eating a meal bought at the local grocery store. Morgan and I were really tired of being cooped up
in our respective homes so much that we decided it would be nice to indulge in the sunlight and
community that Tucson has to offer. While there, we were slightly nervous about safety because the sun
was starting to set, but there was a soccer game being played as well as families engaging in a barbeque.
It was nice to be surrounded by youth because we are surrounded by college students, alike, most days.

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