Personal Narrative: My Need For Heart Healthy Changes

My need for heart healthy changes are an apparent. Having members of my family with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease have affected the quality and length of life my relatives have had. I want to change from poor diet, extreme stress, and lack of exercise, so not to tread down the same path my family has. Change is the most rewarding path to take, but also will be very difficult; regardless of the challenges, change must be made for the sake of my future. Before I began this semester in Health 101, I was making very poor health choices. I was smoking cigarettes to curb stress, eating gratuitous amounts of fast food, and suspended my commitment to going to the gym frequently. These changes in my lifestyle brought on excess …show more content…
The past 6 months, besides my labor intensive job, I have been living a sedate life. I quit going to the gym, choosing to not go out on hikes like I use to, and an excess of activities like watching television or playing video games, that only require me to sit down and move my thumbs. This lifestyle has affected many aspects of my life: my health, my social life, and my confidence. I am going to start recommitting to an aerobic and muscle building workout routine. I have established goals to drop my body fat percentage from where it is currently (18.4%) to under 14%. This change in my activity will help with many issues I have currently. It will help me with my sleep problems, weight control, better cardio health, and more positive view of myself. The change to this new lifestyle will help prevent obesity, high blood pressure, cancer, and so many more …show more content…
Choosing a better path of longevity of health, peace of mind and spirit, and feeling good in my skin is what will keep these goals within reach. I have witnessed those who have made the poor choices and how they caught up with them in their later years. I have made those same mistakes, and felt the early effects of what results of this lifestyle. Being healthy of body, soul, and mind is necessary for living a happy life, choosing to neglect myself of the riches of good health is an injustice to myself and the children I may have in my future. I am the only one who can truly take these responsibilities, and committing to them is a sacrifice with profound impact on my life going forward. I don’t want to be like my mother, whom died at an early age, or my father who has struggled with heart problems since before he turned 50 years old. I want to pave the path of a healthy lifestyle for the generations of my family that follow me. I want to be strong and healthy for many years, being a role model for how life should be