JANUARY 2022 | VOL 5 ISSUE 5 In this issue: 2022 Financial Wellness Houston Happenings MS4 Advice New Year Wellness SMART Resolutions SPOTlight Tasty Recipes Thrive at UT UTHealth Wellness Connection

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2022

Here we are at the start of another new year. The recent years have proved to be challenging for many of us, in many different ways, and we want to acknowledge how far we all have come. Whether you’ve had a good time or a time where you were due for character development, we’re grateful to know you’re all here with us in 2022. Living in a seemingly everlasting pandemic has taught us that there are only so many things that we can control ourselves, and not to get caught up in all the things that are out of our control. Learning to accept the inevitable and inescapable things that happen in life will certainly be a personal resolution of mine, which brings us to our January issue. This issue will look at New Year’s resolutions, and whether they do any good for us (*spoiler alert: they do, but you have to be intentional about them). Maybe you have fitness goals you want to hit in this upcoming year. Maybe you have financial goals that you’d like to realize and have come to fruition. Or maybe you, loyal reader of The Well, have been hearing about mindfulness and gratitude enough times to want to take up more wellness practices yourself! Whatever the case may be, we want to talk about effective goal setting so that this next year can be the best year for you, and pave the way for even better years to come.

SMART Resolutions New Year's resolutions themselves present a very unique challenge. Everyone wants to start a new year with their best foot forward, with new standards and new ways of thinking to ensure a life well-lived. It’s always nice to be able to self-assess and pick out the areas you’d like to see growth in, and it’s even better when throughout the year, you’re able to stick to the resolutions you decided on. But in the spirit of full disclosure, how often does that even happen? January, you might start off hot. You might even stick to your resolutions for that whole month. But at what point do you start to lose steam? February may still be good for your resolutions, but what about March? And how dedicated are you to your goals that you still prioritize them in April? May? The point is, making significant changes to your life is hard. New Year’s resolutions, while they are thought upon with the best intentions, often fail us after some time. After all, 365 days is a long time to do anything. But we want to introduce (or recapitulate for some of you) a better method of creating goals: SMART goals. New year’s resolutions often fail because of a lack of specificity, where they are too vague and too unmeasurable to consistently stick to. SMART goals on the other hand, stand for goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. By creating goals that have a specific end, you will find that there is far less room to make excuses or find an out, as you know what needs to be done. Having measurable goals where you can track your progress is also imperative, as that allows you to adjust your goals by recognizing whether they were realistic in the first place. And creating timely benchmarks can help you prevent burning out of your goals and keep you motivated to stick to them in the long run. It only takes 21 days of practice to build a new habit, so effective goal setting can really go a long way.

New Year Wellness

So how does one actually start implementing good goal setting? This will be very specific to the individual person, as we all have different goals we would like to accomplish, but we still highly recommend the aforementioned SMART goals. For example, if you resolve to possibly read more books, your resolution can be: “I want to read 30 minutes a day”. By creating something specific and realistic on a daily basis, you can track your progress, and also adjust the attainability of your goals as needed. Reading 30 minutes a day is a much more effective goal than to state that you’d like to “read everyday”, “read more books”, or “read a book everyday”. Keeping simple goals where you can check on how you are doing will prevent burnout, and keep you honest on reaching a set achievement. Without specific parameters, there isn’t much of a goal to accomplish, as it becomes more so just an ideal that we imagine and would like to be true. We are looking for real, measurable actions that can be built into habits, which is why tracking a perceptible goal allows you to know if you’re hitting the mark or not. Some of our goals will inevitably be more abstract than to just read more, but we still implore you to find a way to break your resolutions down to the specifics. Effective goal setting is half the battle, and quite an important one to win. Being able to achieve your goals will only positively impact your self-esteem and capacity for self-actualization. Take the time in advance to figure out specific, attainable goals to be able to ensure that they are met.

Spotlight | Service

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." Mahatma Gandhi The new year can inspire a great deal of self-reflection which, at times, can find us stumped for answers. Consider the words of Gandhi to shift focus outwards as a means of not only being of service to others but also helping to renew your purpose or find new direction. The Beacon (downtown) http://www.helpthebeacon.com/ | Providing services that help restore dignity, self-respect, and hope to Houston’s poor and homeless. Service activity includes but not limited to the following: kitchen/meal service and laundry. Hermann Park http://www.hermannpark.org/ | Hermann Park Conservancy is a nonprofit citizens’ organization dedicated to the stewardship and improvement of Hermann Park – today and for generations to come. Service activity includes but not limited to the following: weeding, mulching, raking pine needles and cutting back shrubs/plants.  Medical Bridges http://www.medicalbridges.org/ | Mission – to bridge the healthcare gap worldwide by procuring and distributing medical equipment and supplies to underserved communities. Service activity includes but not limited to the following: sorting donated medical supplies in preparation for shipment to those in need in developing countries and may also include assisting biomedical technicians repair and clean medical equipment in preparation for shipment.  Project C.U.R.E. https://projectcure.org/ | Project C.U.R.E. is the largest provider of donated medical supplies and equipment to developing countries around the world. Service activity includes but not limited to the following: sorting donations.  SBP http://sbpusa.org/ | SBP shrinks the time between disaster and recovery. With the tremendous support of donors, volunteers and corporate partners, SBP has grown from a three-person volunteer team into a national organization headquartered in New Orleans, and recognized as a leader in disaster resilience and recovery, with a mission to shrink the time between disaster and recovery. Service activity: construction-related work on homes affected by Hurricane Harvey.

MS4 Advice With the coming of the new year and with so much change on the horizon for the class of 2022, it was especially important this year for me to take some time and reflect on everything thus far. It feels corny saying it, but it really does feel like the past 4 years have flown by. The holiday season with friends and family was a great time to re-energize and buckle up for everything that is to come in the next few months. At this time four years ago, I was just getting ready for 2018 - the year I would graduate and start medical school. If I could go back and tell myself one thing, it would be that everything will work out. Medical school is difficult, and the journey is extremely grueling at times, but the pieces eventually fall into place. The failures that you believe may define your future will eventually be a blip that you look back to and laugh about. The times that stress you out and scare you will mold you and be just another regular day in the office for you soon. Take advantage of any free time you have now and enjoy it. Go out and grab something to eat with your friends. Go on that vacation you’ve been dreaming of. Adopt the dog you’ve been looking up on the internet for months. These positive experiences will be the ones that stick and mean much more in the years to come. Be proud of everything you have achieved thus far and be excited for the future. As Kobe Bryant once said – “Job’s not finished”. | Srivathsan Ramesh

Tasty Recipes

3-Ingredient Hazelnut Brownies

Chopped Mediterranean Salad

Shrimp & Avocado Tostadas

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Houston Happenings 01.04 | Open Mic Comedy at The Secret Group 01.16 | 50th Annual Chevron Houston Marathon in Downtown 01.17 | MLK Grande Parade Midtown Houston 01.22 | Music Festival HMTA at University of St. Thomas  01.31 | Houston Rockets vs. GS Warriors game Farmer's Markets Houston Memorial Villages Rice Village Urban Harvest Westchase Discovery Green - Fitness in the Park Tuesdays | Core-Focused Yoga Wednesdays | HIIT Saturdays | Hatha Yoga Sundays | Tai Chi

Financial Wellness Resources | Financial Wellness @ McGovern https://med.uth.edu/admissions/wellness-resilience/financial-wellness-2/ Student Financial Services Newsletters | https://www.uth.edu/sfs/newsletters-and-information/ Website | https://www.uth.edu/sfs/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrdQD4Kixa5GUWD_Lu8YHRQ

| Ombudsperson Are conflicts or concerns causing you undue stress? Contact the Office of the Academic Ombuds. Robin Dickey, PhD, MA, LPC, is available as a listener, mediator, and coach for all members of our UTHealth family. Make an appointment today! https://www.uth.edu/evpara/academic-ombuds.htm

Thrive at UT | Thrive at UT is a free app designed to enhance UT student well-being and help busy students live their best life. Thrive helps you make small changes in your routine that have powerful long-term impacts. More info about Thrive

| UTHealth Wellness Connection UTHealth Student Counseling Services has introduced a blog bringing mental health and wellness resources to you. Click the link below to read the latest! UTHealth Wellness Connection

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