Fun at Work Check-In

Okay, so it's actually an internship. Not sure if that qualifies for the title of work. Although I do A LOT of work there. Just not paid. Yet. Anyway, in my attempt to up the fun level at this place I've been dreading going into I reengaged myself in Pandora and 8tracks while writing case notes. Now I'm sure most of you are familiar with Pandora. 8tracks maybe not so much. But you should be. It's essentially that good ol' middle school mixed tape (may have dated myself here) in its online version. And the peeps who post them come up with the best titles. The one I was listening to the other day as my supervisor walked in: http://8tracks.com/claramdiez/fuck-my-problems-i-m-happy-to-be-alive?mix_set_id=3. Nothing dirty on there but Oops!

I don't know if this minor change has made a huge difference but baby steps. I did enjoy myself more than usual this week so it must have.

Any suggestions for next week?

Rediscovering Fun

I've been bordering on becoming what was my nightmare about going to school for social work. That I'd become the stereotypical martyr/negative thinking/no smiling/there's no room for fun in this job because the world is so horrible social worker. I don't actually believe in this kind of philosophy so I haven't yet become that but I am hating my internship this year and that's seriously affecting how much fun I'm having on the J-O-B. And since I left a nightmare job full of martyrs and negative Nancys to go back to school (AGAIN!) this is something I must resolve for my sanity. Therefore my goal this week is to find the fun at my internship. Or create it if necessary. It's up to me to be the person I want to be, which is to squeeze as much fun and enjoyment out of life as possible.

Green Space

I know, I know. It's been forever since I've written. Which may not be a huge deal since I haven't heard from anyone that they've noticed this. Perhaps because pretty much the only traffic I get to this is due to my parallel parking entry. Who knew so many people googled parallel parking? But it's a big deal to me. Because this is good self-care for me. After writing so much research for so long it's nice to be able to write what I want without having to worry about biases and finding evidence. So I thought the perfect thing to get the ball rolling again would be to post an op ed (opinion editorial) I wrote for a class that I was actually allowed to have an opinion about! I hadn't realized until writing it how quiet my opinion had become in my attempt to remain fair and unbiased. I'm hoping I'll allow that to be inspiration to become more louder (awesome grammar!).

Green Space

Being “green” has become the newest fad, which few could argue is a bad thing. The part that many aren’t aware of, even the greenest environmentalists, is that the benefits of the green movement aren’t only about clean air, water and soil. Availability of and access to plentiful green space is also strongly linked to increased mental health. As prevention and wellness programming becomes more prominent in the provision of mental health services, it’s important to conserve and increase the availability of and access to green space, as well as incorporate the use of it into mental health programming.

Time spent in nature, whether it’s camping in a forest, hiking in the mountains, or sitting in an urban park makes you feel happy, peaceful, rejuvenated, connected to something bigger than oneself. There’s good reason for this. Green space is directly linked to decreased stress, decreased aggression, improved concentration, spiritual connectedness, and enhanced physical health. The reasons for this can be at least partially explained through Attention Restoration Theory (ART), which asserts that directed attention plays an important role in information processing; however, fatigue in that area can lead to negative consequences (stress and its resulting effects). Urban environments require significant directed attention due to the larger amounts of stimulus, whereas natural settings have been found to be highly restorative to this process, reducing directed attention fatigue and stress levels (Kaplan, 2004). There are also many social benefits including reduced crime and road rage, economic stimulation, and increased social networks. All of these factors play an unspoken, yet important role in our mental well-being.

Since more and more people are living in urban environments and the availability of green space is decreasing worldwide, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to access the nature that provides these benefits. Those who live in more rural areas-where forests, meadows, rivers, and lakes are right outside their front door or minutes away-don’t have to put extra effort into accessing such green space because they’re enveloped by it. For those living in urban environments, not only do they not have immediate access to such green space but they must also put in considerably more effort to reach comparable natural areas. Then, once they reach these areas, the green space is frequently packed with other urban dwellers seeking similar benefits, taking away from some of the serenity nature is supposed to provide. Of course there’s green space closer to home in the form of urban parks, some of which are fairly amazing as far as parks go, but there can be challenges to overcome in accessing those as well. There often aren’t enough quality parks so they too can become packed with visitors, not allowing for the same restorative experience one would have in the more rural natural settings. This is particularly problematic for those living in low-income areas (and already at a higher risk for poorer mental and physical health) because overall there are fewer parks in such areas, they aren’t as well maintained, and some aren’t entirely safe to be in.

While a lot of us are aware of the mental health benefits we receive from nature and that less accessible green space is a reality for many, the magnitude of conserving our natural surroundings and creating more where they don’t exist, is out of the realm of consciousness for many. It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day routines and neglect the big picture, not fully noticing what we’re feeling and how we’re living. With rapid advances in technology and people not interacting with nature on a regular basis, it becomes easy to forget our intimate connection to it. Prevention and treatment of mental illness is also something many rarely think about unless we become personally affected by it. Even then, when we’re aware that something needs to be done it’s hard to know what to do and taking action on any issue can sometimes feel so overwhelming that we don’t do anything.

Yet something must be done. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that approximately 25% of U.S. adults have a mental illness and the economic burden of mental health treatment was estimated to be around $300 billion in 2002. In addition to those with a diagnosable mental illness, the National Health Interview Survey found that “75% of the general population experiences at least ‘some stress’ every two weeks” and that “half of those experience moderate or high levels of stress during the same two-week period.” Stress is linked directly to depression and anxiety as well as most, if not all physical diseases; therefore, decreasing stress levels would increase overall well-being for much of our society.

Increased availability of and access to green space would also reduce our society’s economic burden, which we know for policy makers is often more of a motivating factor toward change than outright concern for constituents’ health. Aside from the cost benefits of utilizing green space as a preventative measure for mental health treatment, there are also numerous other economic benefits (that could also positively affect mental well-being). For those who still need mental health services, incorporating green space within such services may decrease the time (and money) one needs to spend in treatment overall. Increased physical health would further reduce the cost of health care services. Housing prices are higher in areas with easy access to parks and other outdoor areas, as was demonstrated by Boston’s Big Dig project. Boston significantly increased its green space over a 15 year span and as a result the value of those properties located in close proximity to the green space increased. Green space also attracts economic development, which in turn creates employment opportunities, and increased foot traffic to the businesses in those areas. Proximity to green space is also linked to worker satisfaction, which increases productivity and reduces work-related stress. In an indirect way, reducing the economic burden could also reduce stress overall, which as stated previously would improve mental health.

With all these obvious benefits it’s time for us as individuals to take action and really become “green.” Who doesn’t want increased mental and physical health and more money in their pockets? Who doesn’t want to leave a healthier environment and society all the way around for generations to come? It is our responsibility as citizens to educate ourselves and once we’ve done that, educate those around us. Talk to family, friends, and neighbors about the benefits of availability of and access to green space. Communicate with professional organizations and policy makers so that even if they’re educated on the issue they realize that it’s important to others. Lobby, advocate, storm Capital Hill if necessary. Most importantly utilize and encourage the utilization of green spaces to physically demonstrate the value of such spaces. It all sounds so simple, yet it’s often the simplest acts that make the biggest difference.

Fun Food: Lasagna

The bf and I love to cook. Him more so than I but I love eating freshly made food so I'm getting in on the fun more too. I've recently realized that my fav thing to cook is lasagna. One of the reasons being it's absolutely delicious. But the other being that it solves one my biggest cooking conundrums of getting everything done at the same time so it's all still warm and not overcooked. You simply layer all the ingredients any which way you want, stick it in the oven for an hour or so, and then all you have to do is prepare the side dishes, which are usually a salad (no worries about keeping it warm there) and garlic bread (pop it in the oven with 10, 15 minutes to go). So easy!!! So in honor of my fav dish to make here's my most recent lasagna recipe that was given rav reviews by the taste testers (no matter that the taste testers are friends):

Ingredients:

- Lasagna noodles

- 3 c. Sun dried tomatos

- 4 c. Marinated artichoke

- 1/2 c. Pesto

- 16 oz. Ricotta cheese

- 16 oz. Mozzarella

- 8 oz. Parmesan

Preparation:

- Boil the lasagna noodles first until they're almost done.

- Once the noodles have boiled pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

- Spread a small amount of pesto on the bottom of the pan so it's just barely covered.

- Add a layer of the cooked lasagna noodles.

- Add a layer of the marinated artichokes.

- Add a layer of the sun dried tomatoes.

- Add a layer of ricotta and mozzarella.

- Add another layer of the cooked lasagna noodles.

- Add another thin layer of pesto.

- Add another layer of the marinated artichokes.

- Add another layer of the sun dried tomatoes.

- Add another layer of ricotta and mozzarella.

- Sprinkle the parmesan on top.

- Place the dish in the oven for approximately 45 minutes.

Notes to Self:

The amounts of ingredients are estimated as I made this recipe up and can't actually remember how much I used but you'll know how much is enough for you (That's more of the fun part of making lasagna!).

It's so delicious! Enjoy!

Do you enjoy cooking? And if so what do you love to cook?

This isn't quite the one from above but since I didn't take pic but this one looks pretty similar.

Carmageddon

This is a little late and people are probably sick of hearing about it but a little reflection on this event feels needed because after all the fuss and fear that it would destroy Los Angeles, it ended up being an amazingly good time. The streets were empty! Millions of LAiens left town, took public transportation, or simply stayed home. Since the bf's place was at one end of the 405 closure and mine was at the other end, we had decided to hole up at his place for the weekend (mostly because of the pool) and do nada. Then, when we realized that there was no one out alternative plans to attend festivals and parties started to churn but then we decided to stick with the original idea of doing nada. Therefore, our weekend consisted of a lot of naps, delicious home cooked and local restaurant food, walks in the 'hood, movies, the women's World Cup, and some pool time complete with leisurely reading. Both of us are usually pretty high energy with a lot going on so this is rare for us but much needed. And that seemed to be the case for many of our fellow LAiens as it was extremely quiet even with a lot of people out and about walking around enjoying their local community with happy, peaceful smiles on their faces. Not a single horn was heard the entire weekend, which may be unheard of. All in all our vote is for a monthly shutdown of some major LA freeway! Or maybe we'll just impose our own Carmageddon on ourselves every so often.

How did you spend Carmageddon if you live in the LA area? Or if you had the opportunity to not drive anywhere for an entire weekend what fun things would you do that you don't normally get to?

Resume Shirt

I stumbled upon this brilliant, fun website, ResumeShirts.com. Not sure yet if I'd do it but I'm glad they're having fun!

Dancing Queen

I know dancing's a major fear for many people but I love to dance! Anywhere. Anytime. With anyone. Okay, there are probably some limitations but I haven't yet found them. I dance after a few drinks. I dance stone cold sober. I dance at clubs. I dance at weddings (The bf and I are thinking about becoming professional wedding dancers.). I dance at non-dancing venues. With or without music. I dance in crowds where there are so many people, wobbling slightly would probably be a better descriptor. I dance in my room all by myself. I dance in the sun. In the rain. Clothed. Unclothed. Happy. Sad. Dancing makes me feel alive. But I do have a slight vendetta against my parents because they never forced dance lessons down my throat so I'm entirely self-taught. Which makes for a kind of Night at the Roxbury/Fame/Beyonce style that's all my own.

The bf and I as pro wedding dancers

In the event this hasn't yet convinced you non-dancers that dancing can be fun here are some reasons for dancing and how to have fun with it:

Benefits to Dancing

- Burns calories. Secretly. When you're having fun dancing it doesn't even feel like a workout but in actuality burns 265 calories an hour (if you're a 130 lb. gal according to Medical Movement). What!

- Aside from the calories it has much health benefits.

- You might meet your significant other. That's how I did. And dancing's still an important part of our relationship. I'd say he's a cross between Fred Astaire/Usher/Carlton/Andy Samberg, which compliments my own self-taught style perfectly.

- Other social connections. Should you work up the courage to do it in public.

And How to Make it Fun:

- Dance Alone: Choose your fav music and let loose. You don't need a mirror if even that makes it too embarrassing. At worst just wiggle your hips slightly more than normal. The average person might not even be able to tell you're dancing. But you know what? It doesn't matter because you're all alone and the average person isn't going to see you. See if it doesn't make you smile just a little.

- Get lost in the moment. When you do that there aren't any worries. You have nothing to worry about anyway. No one's judging you. Okay, no one who counts is judging you. And anyone who is judging you is probably not a very good dancer themselves or they'd be too caught up in their own movement to notice yours. The trick is to not worry and have an absolute blast. Dance elegantly. Dance goofily. Dance perfectly. However, you do it do it and as long as you're truly having fun people will be lining up to be your partner, or at least drift near your vicinity to steal some moves.

- Smile. And laugh. That always makes it look like you're having fun even if you aren't.

- And along with that fake it til you make it. I'm not entirely sure I actually am a good dancer but I fully believe I am. But it wasn't always like that. I had to get over some insecurities. And I did that by faking it until I turned pro.