Chapter Introduction
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Personal and Financial Health
Stress Less, Feel Better
Physical and Mental Health
Sexual Health
Financial Health
Personal and Financial Health at Work
My Personal Success Plan
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Close your eyes, and create a mental image of what stress feels like to you. Perhaps you’re picturing a 20-pound weight in your backpack, and you can almost feel it pulling on your shoulder straps. Maybe you’re imagining an itchy sweater that’s three sizes too small, a metal vise squeezing your head, or a dark storm cloud following you around, ready to dump rain on you at any moment. Is your image as awful as any of these? Not as bad? Worse?
Now think about the relationship between feelings of stress and your personal and financial health. If you’re like many people, there’s a clear connection between how stressed you are and how good you feel — and even between how stressed you are and how well you manage your money. For example, if you’re anxious about presenting in class, your blood pressure might rise and you might lose sleep. And high stress levels might prompt you to engage in a little “retail therapy” and splurge on things you don’t need (or can’t afford) in an effort to distract yourself from your troubles.
Conversely, your personal and financial health choices can affect how stressed you feel. For instance, if you don’t get enough sleep, eat nothing but French fries every day, and never exercise, you’ll probably experience stress in the form of exhaustion and anxiety. If you don’t manage your money carefully, you may run out of funds for everyday expenses, further ratcheting up your stress levels.
The good news about this connection is that if you make the right decisions about your personal and financial health, you can control your stress levels — and this chapter shows you how. First, we examine stress in more detail. Then we explore key aspects of your physical well-being and mental health and consider ways to manage both. Next, we present strategies for maintaining sexual health and explore how to enhance your financial health through budgeting, understanding financial aid, and managing credit. Finally, we look at how strengthening your personal and financial health can benefit you in the workplace.
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Reflect
On Your Personal and Financial Health
Take a moment to reflect on your Personal and Financial Health score on ACES. To review your results, click here.
This score measures your beliefs about how healthy you are physically, mentally, and financially. Do you think it’s an accurate snapshot of how you feel in this area? Why or why not?
IF YOU SCORED IN THE HIGH RANGE and believe this score is accurate, then staying healthy and financially stable may be one of your strengths. Excellent! But remember: You can always work to improve strengths. For instance, if you’re already getting enough exercise, explore how you could also improve your diet. Or if you’ve built an effective budget, identify ways you could reduce your spending to free up funds for tuition and other important expenses.
IF YOU SCORED IN THE MODERATE OR LOW RANGE, use the suggestions in this chapter to better manage your health and to stay on track financially. Once you identify and implement strategies that work for you, you’ll feel better physically and mentally, as well as more fiscally secure.
MY ACES SCORE
HIGH
MODERATE
LOW
To find your Personal and Financial Health score, go to the LaunchPad for Connections.