Postcard

I think what motivates me health wise is just the all around benefits I see in my day to day life. I really look forward to my workout everyday. Whether I’m going for a run or lifting weights, it gives me time to think, decompress and re-focus on what I need to do. Sometimes I visit the smelly gym and I wonder why I do it but there’s something about the place that keeps me coming back. Getting that workout in before I head into work every morning is pivotal to my day’s success. I don’t know what it is, but when I don’t do something active I just don’t feel the same.

I work with post secondary students on an everyday basis. The students often struggle with managing their time and they feel stressed while being pulled in multiple directions and not taking the time to focus on themselves. I strongly encourage them to take some time for themselves and set some fitness and personal related goals. Especially when it comes to fitness, I want to ensure they are eating and sleeping properly as well as exercising regularly. I’ve been doing this for a few terms now, and students often report feeling much better on a day to day basis. I was very happy with their progress!

I’m also very interested in the link between mental illness and the impact that exercise can have on depression and anxiety. I’ve read a couple articles that correlate the link between exercise and a decrease in PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores. At my place of work, we run a program for students who are prescribed exercise by a Health & Counseling doctor. We set them up with our personal trainers for free personal training to help them deal with their mental illness. We have had spectacular results.

Nick - An Introduction

So our first assignment is to brag about ourselves, I mean, introduce ourselves in a creative way. Well, I guess blogging can be considered creative for me, since I've done very little of it in my lifetime. If you know me, I'm very easy going and that's probably how I'll write this blog post... that is until serious Stephen gets mad at me and tells me differently (just kidding).

I'm born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, surrounded by an amazing, supportive family of which I'm the youngest of five children. At 18, I moved out to Kingston, Ontario to study football, I mean Religious Studies (and play football) at Queen's University. From there I worked at Queen's in the Athletics & Recreation department doing Marketing & Sponsorship and since moved out to BC to continue in the university setting at Simon Fraser University. I began my time at SFU as the Marketing & Events Coordinator for the Athletics Department but am currently the Fitness Coordinator for the Recreation Department. Interesting transition no?

I enrolled in the HEAL program because I am very interested in promoting health and active living to the students, staff, faculty and community that I see every day. There's a lot of junk out there when it comes to being active or exercising so we do our best to make our area a welcoming and rewarding place, keying on customer service and answering any fitness related questions our members have with our fully certified staff. HEAL peaked my interest because I felt I would be surrounded by intellectuals that were keen to encourage the same type of active living and learn new ways to break down some of those barriers to participation.

As you'll see in my upcoming "postcard" assignment, I'm also quite interested in the link between physical activity and helping people with mental illnesses. I've research the positive link between exercise and the decrease in stress, anxiety and depression. I don't believe exercise is the cure all, but I think it can be a valuable asset.

I think my understanding of health and the mind/body relationship has grown as I've "grown" as well. I think I've just come to understand the holistic mindset a lot better since I've graduated university. I think that connection between your mind and body is only strengthened by being active.

I think I'd like to contribute to the group my expertise in the fitness and post-secondary industry. In addition, I'd like to get a better understanding of the K-12 education system, these are, after all, the students that I end up seeing day to day, so I think an understanding of their curriculum is very important. I think I can gain a lot of real world experience from our members of the cohort and just share and discuss ideas to generate programs I can take back with me to my place of employment and my life.

I've blathered on enough, but for those in my cohort reading this, I'm very excited to work with all of you and I can't wait to see where this goes!