Author Archives: yasmina

Last month Professor Almond announced in the class, one of CUNY’s students found dead in her apartment. she was in her late twentieth. why I am mentioned that? the reason I am mentioned that is because I thought she was the girl that I met two month ago in the bathroom and she was so weak, pale and sick. she was in her late twentieth, smart, but  lonely. we became friend and we stayed in touch. she trusted me with her secret that she suffer from mental problem, and she is on medication, but she no longer want to live, she starve herself so she died and rest. when I herd the news, I was scared it was her. for three  weeks I tried and called her number day and night. I texted her weekdays and weekends, but no one reply back. I looked for her in every floor I though I can find her in City Tech, and asked the people that she used to be with, no one saw her for the last three weeks. I started to panic, thinking she maybe the one in the news. I searched the internet hoping to find a picture of the deceased girl, but nothing came up. I was going to speak to the counseling office because I referred her to them, that day, I got a text message from her. saying she was so sick and needed rest. I felt relief and happy that she is fine, but sad or the other girl who lost her life. the reason I am sharing that was, because of Active mind effect on me. Maybe we went on their website for one or two times because of assignment requirement, but the stories we read have impact on us forever. Active mind open our eyes on problem that exist among our life, our family, our school, our community and our nation. we can’t ignore mental illness anymore.

“Congratulations! You’ve moved from the Precontemplation stage all the way to the Action stage. Before, you weren’t even thinking about exercising regularly. Now, you’ve made regular exercise a part of your life.”

yes, i was able to exercise regularly with Pre-K kids. I am having so much fun and they are encourage with my participation. I took some pictures but I am not allow to publish any with children faces shown.

My boss just texted me “send me one of your funny jokes!”

I texted him back “I’m busy working, I’ll send one later.”

“that’s hilarious” he said: “send another one”.

Every time I do the exercises on Live Well I found that I fall in the preparation stage in physical activity. So I decided to move forward and maintain my exercise weekly regardless my busy schedule and my tiredness. I focused on days and times I don’t feel so tired and more energetic. I continued exercising with the pre-k kids during their movement and music hours, which is two or three times a week depend on the teacher. With changing weather I start to walk to work and from few days a week. Eating healthy still in maintenance stage which I am proud of .

Dear classmate,

I was so impressed with all your  posts and steps you took to live well, so I decided to do the first step toward exercising. I bought my first sneakers in 5 years.

I am not going to judge the effect of this program until I see what the next session will be about. I answered all the questions honestly, even thought I know that I am not taking care of my health as I should. I am in Precontemplation, the first stage of change. That’s OK. At this point for many number of reasons, I cannot exercise, I tried before and gave up, now I  don’t know how to start.

Maybe I need a little push..I will see what I am going to learn from this program.

I was sad to read the story behind the existence of Active Minds. It showed me that we are all vulnerable to any type of mental illness due to stress, anxiety and depression. Alison Malmon dedication to her brother’s cause was rewarded by bringing this awareness to many campuses across the nation. Based on their survey, suicide claims the lives of more than 1,100 college students each year. For this reason Active Minds created Send Silence Packing which is a nationally recognized traveling exhibition of donated backpacks representing college students lost to suicide each year. The program is designed to raise awareness about the incidence and impact of suicide, connect students to needed mental health resources, and inspire action for suicide prevention. At each exhibit of Send Silence Packing, backpacks are displayed in a high-traffic area of campus – like the campus quad – giving a visual representation of the scope of the problem and the number of victims. (active minds.org). I liked this idea the idea and I went on their website to request a display on our campus, but I found out that it is not free. I wonder Professor if you could do something about that??