Imagine this—you’re hanging out with your friends on the beach on a hot summer day. Maybe you are grilling, fishing, or lying out and reading a book. Sounds pretty relaxing and pretty typical, right? Or maybe you’re in Pullman for the summer and go to “the Cliffs” (Granite Point) to do some cliff jumping. In both of these situations, and others like them, we often get carried away in having a good time and forget about water safety. Here are some tips to help keep you safe this summer. [More]

In an effort to improve my wellbeing I took a look at my finances. As a college student this can be particularly difficult because we don’t really know where to begin. I read Kerri’s blog post about finances and checked out her link to CNN’s Money 101. I found this to be a helpful tool. Once I read a few of the lessons it became clear where to start. Create financial goals, prioritize those goals, and make a budget. To choose financial goals I just thought about my goals in general. I want to study abroad next summer, graduate from WSU in the next two years, and go to grad school. To turn these goals into financial goals and prioritize them I looked at how long I had to accomplish them, how much money I will need to accomplish them, and how many people each goal will affect. [More]

Today I decided to take a look at my environmental impact, also known as my ‘ecological footprint.’ There are several sites that measure your ecological footprint. I used the site linked to the Wellbeing page, www.myfootprint.org. The questions were easy to answer and for the few I didn’t know off the top of my head I used the national average, which was provided by the site. I learned that if every single person on Earth lived the same way that I do, we would use up 4.1 Earths! To be honest I was pretty shocked. I have become known to my friends as the eco-friendly fanatic and although I know that I am not perfect when it comes to being eco-conscious I do make a very strong effort. According to the website the average U.S. citizen leaves a footprint of 246.41 global acres. My consumption level was only 159.27 global acres. If my consumption was over 4 Earths this means that in reality U.S. citizens are living completely unsustainable lives that could consume over 6 Earths! [More]

College students are well-known for their crazy, hectic schedules. This is one of the busiest times of our lives and we are finally at the age where we are making our own decisions and setting up a path that we could follow for the rest of our lives. This is an exciting time but it can also be very overwhelming as we undergo many personal changes. Sometimes we get caught up and forget to take care of ourselves. I have decided to take a step back and evaluate my own wellbeing through the ‘8 Dimensions of Wellbeing’: emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual. I will be blogging about my journey throughout the summer with posts until I have completed my personal adventure. Stay tuned for my first wellbeing blog post! [More]

I love trying out all of the classes that I see at the Student Recreation Center. However, the TRX class seemed a little intimidating. I finally had the opportunity to try out the class and it went great! When I first walked in, there were a bunch of straps hanging from a giant structure in the middle which I had no clue how to use. To my delight, the instructor was very friendly and energetic. He showed me how to adjust the suspension straps for my body (you want the handles to be at upper calf to your knee height) so I was quickly prepared to start the class. [More]