Hello All! My name is Paige and as I briefly mentioned, I am 22 years old and currently working full time as a Leasing Consultant for a very busy town-home community in Southwest Omaha. In addition to my work, I am also completing my masters degree in Healthcare Administration via an on line program at a part time status. Prior to changing my undergraduate major to Business Administration, my major had been pre-nursing for three years. I have an extreme amount of interest in the health field and I believe this is what largely intrigued me about getting involved with the BetterU program.
Being young and extremely busy, often leads to poor health choices, which in my case could be anything from: not eating until I get home from work, eating too much “junk” food, not drinking enough water, not taking my vitamins, not getting enough sleep or not exercising. While I am definitely concerned about and want to work on all of the above, the main reason that I wanted to become involved in the BetterU program is to kick my horrible habit of smoking. I think too many people my age use their age as an excuse for why they don’t need to quit smoking and have the mindset that they have plenty of time to quit later in life. After watching my grandmother pass away from complications with COPD in 2006, from smoking for the better part of her life, my willingness to quit all together has gradually increased, and now I think I am finally ready.
When I think about smoking it seems extremely silly because there is not one positive outcome that is the result of smoking cigarettes, but unfortunately quitting just isn't that easy. I think that I originally began smoking because I have many family members and close friends that smoke, but looking at the situation now, I have many friends that have quit, which I think will make my quest to kick the habit so much easier! I am planning to put gradual goals in place in regards to my diet and nutrition, exercise and of course smoking over the next twelve weeks, with the overall goal of completely quitting smoking and improving my general health overall. I am extremely excited for the opportunity to be one of the six bloggers for the BetterU program, and I hope that you will follow me, as well as the other bloggers on our personal journeys over the next twelve weeks!