Health and Wellness with Nathaniel

Transcript

All right, everyone, let’s now head over to ASU’s West Campus. It’s gorgeous over here. Here we have Nathaniel Gomez waiting. He’s a junior majoring in cybersecurity and he’s excited to talk about wellness here at ASU. Nathaniel, the floor is all yours.

Hello, everybody. I’m from El Paso, Texas, and I came at ASU because of the diversity. I wanted to learn and grow with people unique and different than myself. But I found myself staying because of the person I’m becoming. Throughout my time at ASU, I began noticing these buzzwords surrounding me on all four campuses. Things such as mindfulness, consciousness, and other aspects of wellness. This began to make me curious.

I remember meeting with my advisor for the first time and they asked how I was doing genuinely before even bringing up the topic of school. This, of course, was new to me. I was later assured that this is only natural to feel these types of feelings, but let alone this did not have to be the case. When I wasn’t doing or feeling my best, I was directed to counseling services, health services, and my favorite place, the Zen Den. Between my busy schedule and my busy mind stressing about school and plans, I would visit the Zen Den routinely to meditate, relax, and recollect myself. This actually helped me do better in classes, nurtured great relationships, and taught me what wellness is all about.

Now that I was feeling confident and ready mentally and internally, I wanted to feel better physically. I would visit the fitness center mostly because it was beautiful, but a friend of mine invited me to an evening yoga class which introduced a new ease that I had not known before. I later started coming more into these instructed workouts and grew a relationship with these instructors. Between meditating, learning about nutrition and my body, I made some beautiful and meaningful friends that helped motivate me and enhanced my experience on campus. Even in classes, you’re asked to be mindful. Instructors know college can be difficult, so they work with you. Faculty and staff value you and your growth and know your health is top priority.

I think with this kind of support, it’s allowed me to be the happiest I’ve ever been. With a healthy mind and spirit, it’s allowed me to really appreciate the Sun Devil Fitness Center, where I can go and get a nutrition plan, personal trainer, and even instructed workouts. My parents feel a lot more comfortable knowing that this is accessible to me. I feel more comfortable knowing that they will invite me and all that I am with kindness and solutions. Alex, that’s my story on wellness. Take it back.

Nathaniel. Wow, that was cool. We appreciate you opening up and telling us what ASU is doing to keep wellness in the forefront of students’ lives here. By the way, I need to come to that meditation Zen Den.