Social, Environmental and Spiritual Health post

Introduction

“What disgusting clothes you’re wearing kid, cant you put something else nicer, it is something horrendous for my eyes” says the 18 year old teen Thomas, while the freshman Robert ran away as he was humiliated by a group of bullies at school. “Yeah and don’t even come back you loser!” shouts Thomas once more.

Being bullied, mistreated, humiliated and any other adjective there is for this is a terrible and awful thing that no one should experience. That’s not the case though, because many kids all around the world are suffering from this and it is still a concern that causes physical, emotional and psychological damage. This post is about social health, about the quality of relationships one has, about environmental health, taking care of nature and the resources of the world, and spiritual health, having a sense of purpose in life. These are the three last elements that make up the term of health, and it will be analyzed again with all the main mistakes we make and some advices.

The specialist who has helped me with the main arguments of this post is Felix Bombarolo, an Argentinean sociologist who works with teenager and whose opinion will be shared around the social health part of this post.

Social health

This component is all about the quality of relationships with friends, family, teachers, and others one is in contact with. One should respect other the way they are, avoid people who are intolerant to one, like bullies. A healthy person in this area knows how to handle problems with people by assertively talking without the need of fights. He/ she also has supportive relationships in which he/she trusts and can express her feelings freely.

Avoid bullying! Don´t make this mistake!  Source: Corbis

·      Bullying, respecting others and expressing needs- As we have seen, this something that at our stage we must learn not to do. At our school there might be people from different nationalities, races, cultures and different opinions, and in this diverse world there shouldn’t be any mistreating to people that whom we may not like or disagree. Bullies are unhealthy in this component, their relationship with other people is horrible, since all they do is fight and treat everyone in a bad way. For those  who think that bullying will make them popular and friends with everyone, sorry to break it to you but that is the opposite. By doing this you simply show others that you are insecure as a being, and need to release you’re anger, suffering and whatever feeling you may have about yourself. If you feel like you have maybe mistreated somebody, go and apologize to him and solve every possible conflict there are in between you two. It won’t only make you a better person on the interior but it will also make the other person as well, and maybe save something that could have ended worse in the future, like a suicide (called bullicide). Something we may say to a peer might greatly affect their life, even change it drastically, a simply “ you suck at everything dude” by accident might make the person go into a psychological break down, and their character might completely change. Our words are a massive tool, both for good and bad, and when used negatively to criticize somebody it deeply affects one. So think before speaking cause you might be changing an innocent guy’s life. There are different ways a bully can act over his victim, such as physically (hitting, kicking, punching, etc), verbally (name calling, insulting, sexist, etc.), indirect (spreading nasty stories about someone, excluding someone) and cyber bulling (text message, e-mail bullying, via social networks, etc.)  If the bully keeps bullying you, and you know he won’t change, then it is all up to you for them to stop it. Go and tell your parents, teachers, friends, directors, anyone in order to stop this. You must express your needs, that is the only way we will know how you feel! Don’t think about the “what will they think if I go and tell the teacher what my problem is”. Just do it, your health is in play and it is something that must be done. You will be thought as courageous and will help others from getting bullied as well!

Types of communication! It will really make a difference on our lifestyle.

·      Assertively talking to solve problems- This is also something mentioned in the others components, but will be re-mentioned because it is worth learning this skill because even though it may help you in the instance, your relationship and the way people look at you will suffer. Let’s say your waiting in line for the school lunch, and suddenly one stranger cuts in front of you. What will you do?? Three options: you can either go to him and get into a fight and argue for why he/ she cut the whole line (aggressive), you can stay there and not do anything (passive) or go and express your needs in a calm way without arguing and the needs of shouting (assertive). As you already predict, the last one is the one this point is aiming everyone to do that one. Assertive means communicating your needs, wants, feelings, beliefs and opinions to others in a direct and honest manner, while at the same time being receptive to their needs and without intentionally hurting anyone’s feelings. We should all learn to treat people like this, because it will change our life for good! 

Having supportive relationships is key!

·      Having supportive relationships- Choose wisely with whom to hang out. Choose in relation to how they treat you and if you feel identified with that group. Pick friends that support you and are next to you through thick and thin and are good people from the inside. When you have people next to you that support you and that you can trust in, you feel like the world to you is full of great people. For this avoid bullies and pick people that you like. It is better to have people that are not as popular but you trust in, that having a popular group in which you don’t belong to and everyone there mistreats you. 

Specialist

Felix’s ideas he transmitted to me were that for a teenager it is very hard to set what things are good and bad. It is hard even for every human being. Thankfully, people have the right to choose things in our life, and in that capacity to pick we can choose different vital paths. The decisions that we take during these years are strongly influenced by two factors: the atmosphere and the society in which we live in (ex: the dominant culture, the laws, political and socio economic context, etc.) and the desires and views from our parents.

Young people try, from nature; to untie themselves from those knots and generate a new path, often opposite to the one lived. As he says, every revolution emerges with the idea to alter something, and to build something else; whose are often teen’s ideas to society. In this frame, a teen’s social life goes in between two or more limits: 1) the search for identification of people of the same generation, a search guided by personal motivations, by ideals, to search differentiation and independence from the established society (a elder’s world). 2) A slow strengthening of society bonds with institutions and to legitimate (following the rules) groups. It is like that that at a first teen instance, they will free up and join new groups or cliques such as rock bands, and other ones with common purposes, to feel connected with some people. The second and third instance is about teens or young adults going back to their original social structure and under society, such as family, school, work, university, political and religious views, etc.

In this journey, each teen will define their paths; build character, personality, and the relationships with others. In some cases they are more sociable characters, extroverted, open, etc. and in others it is more introverted, closed and more to themselves. It isn’t that one is better than the other, they are just different. Also, each teenager will learn the laws and ways to live in life and how to behave in societies (called socialization process) such as recognizing conduct rules and especially, their right and citizen duties. This last point is the one that give special social importance to the topic of social health among teenagers. From his point of view, he thinks it isn’t very important the friendly attitudes one adopts, but the fundamental part to the developing in society is the type of citizen formation one acquires. It is called citizen formation, in this case, to the knowledge and conscience that the person acquires over one’s social role and about the possibilities that society will grant one to develop and grow as a person.

Humans are what can be called “gregarious animals”. We like living in groups and societies with each other. Maybe we need it since it is part of our DNA (anthropological way of they human being). It is therefore that we must take this point into consideration, and open our teen relationships completely, be open to what comes, being as flexible as possible. The more relationships and the good quality we have with them will make us special individuals and will change the way we look at life, since so many more points of view will be shown from each individual.

Environmental health

The environment is described as the living and non-living things in the world, such as water, plants, air, and animals. This component is all about keeping the air and water clean, having safe food and having an enjoyable land. It is also about the impact of our surroundings on our health, which is due to the complex interactions between human genetics. They will be explained in depth below: 

Water´s running out, save it!

·      Keeping clean air and water, safe food, and an enjoyable land - Unfortunately, this is a component that for the majority isn’t decided by us, since it depends on the place we live, the socio- economic status of our parents, etc. Regardless of this, it is something we must to know how to do and apply it to have a clean environment. The world environment here doesn’t only mean nature, but it is the quality of living from people. Going back to this point, in this increasing world, a lot of resources are needed to sustain humans with energy and give them a good life. Those resources are the basic ones such as air, water, food, land, and unfortunately it is something finite that will run out in the future. Many people will suggest that at this rate of population increase (7 billion already!) there will be wars for the basic physiological need, water and food, and even later for air! That simply sounds crazy cause all we have to do for the majority is turn the tap on, but if we waste all the resource at this rate (look at link with map for future reference), they will ran out in less than we think of. To conclude, we all like having a great life, enjoying every moment at the fullest. Help others, do community service, don’t take long showers, close the tap while brushing your teeth and doing the dishes, plant trees and food etc. and these sort of things that mixed at a global scale will make a huge difference. It is our planet and the life of everyone, so think of the person next to you that doesn’t have as much before doing something for you. 

·      Our surroundings affects our health- the way we treat the environment will have a big impact on our health, and most probably the age until we will live. If we prevent from trees getting chopped down for example, there will be more oxygen in the air, and it will also prevent global warming, which will increase our quality of life. This is because of the complex interactions between human genetics and our surroundings.

·      Recycling paper, glass, food to protect area- We all probably had a lesson on recycling and how it is very important, but how is it though? Well your teachers were probably right it is fundamental to ensure a green and good quality life. By recycling paper, fewer trees are first being chopped down, which gives more oxygen and produces less global warming. Secondly, it will save money for businesses that involve cutting trees and doing the whole process, it is much simpler now. And finally is a renewable energy that could be used from garbage, bio energy. As seen, the benefits are greatly and it all comes down to a cause, to protect the environment! We have seen since the 20^th century a climate change going on, and recycling is all about saving resources and protecting the environment, trying to leave it as intact as possible. Earth has trees and nature for a reason, and we must learn not to alternate it. Recycling varies in many countries; like in Switzerland is something mandatory to do, which in my opinion is very efficient and works well. If in your area not many people do it, take some initiative, set the example and encourage your neighbors and friends to do it. 

 4 magic R´s. Reuse, reduce, recycle, restore.

If we follow all the things necessary for this component, it will assure us a much better life in terms of quality, and future generations will also benefit from having a clean environment, even though our world is going through big changes, population being one of them. Take conscious and think about others apart from you.

Spiritual Health

This component is about finding inner wellness, and feeling like there’s a purpose in life we must follow, and that’s why we were born. This might be related to whatever religion you believe in, and it might mean different things for different people.

Practicing yoga or meditating will do one good!

·      Maintaining harmonious relationships with other living things- this component is about harmony and peace, and this specific point is maintaining that with humans, animals, and other living things. This point can be part of social health as well, and it is very important. Learning to treat people with love and respect, no matter how they treat you. This is related to religion, and that nobody should be hated and treated with disrespect. A common catholic phrase says, “If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also”. This phrase is very common, and it is hard to find now days a teenager who does this. I mean, it is common that if someone hits you to react, but the message this is sending is not to hit him back, either turn away or solve the problem with words. 

·      Living according to one’s ethics, morals and values- We were all taught by our parents to be respectful, polite, and mostly thankful, and this depends on the culture. This point is about to living according to the principles one was taught, always applying respect, love and treating the person like the most special person.

This component isn’t as long as the others, since it is something more personal than rather a list of things one must do. To recap, it is all according to one’s thoughts, religion and about how one thinks it’s the best way to live. This could be living in harmony with the environment or in peace with yourself and the ones around.

Conclusion

Like building a house, every individual must learn and get the skills to build a happy life. Enjoy life!

To finish this post and all the six components that make up health, I would like to say that health is thankfully a matter that we can control, and it should be use with wisdom in every occasion. Health related issues will appear in many situations, more as you become older (and if you’re a party freak), and one must learn to reject things and not think of “what would they think if I do this”. It’s not only with alcohol matters, but also about how you treat others, your actions to the environment, how you appreciate yourself and others, and finding a meaning in life. Every individual must learn to build their own life according to their values and cultures, and taking into consideration all the components, that will lead to the healthiest life of all . All of these points make up a component (physical, emotional, mental, etc.) that forms the term health. With this last point and concluding paragraph I finish here saying to take care of you, I hopefully informed you transmitted to you the knowledge necessary to carry on a great life, but it is all up to you to change it. Enjoy life people, live responsibly, make a better world…

Link with map

http://chartsbin.com/view/1455


Picture bibliography
my.hrw.com (online health textbook)
www.corbisimages.com