M7 Task

This week’s module was all about Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology is the is scientific study of human flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal functioning. With This week’s task having to do with this concept, we were supposed two do one planned thing that we enjoyed and then another planned thing that would help bring someone else happiness or just help them in general. So, for this week’s task I decided early on in the week that I was going to make a trip home this weekend. I mainly decided to do this so that I could complete the “philanthropic” part of my task because one of my close friends who also goes to HSU said that she was going home this weekend, but I also decided to change up my “pleasure” task from having a lake day to having a nice pool/ outside day so that I could really have some time to have fun and attempt to become less stressed before finals week came around.

For my “philanthropic” task I decided that I was going to surprise one of my close friends Friday night when I got back to Dallas and take her to dinner. She has been telling me lately how stressed out she has been due to college and her busy schedule in general, so I thought that it would be a good stress reliever for her to just get out for a while and have dinner and to talk. Although my friend knew we were going to dinner, she did not know that I was going to end up paying for her at the end. So, I ended up paying for her dinner and everything and she was really surprised because my friends and I do not really like anyone paying for us ever, so she did not expect for me to do that. At the end of it all she was really happy and said that it made her feel appreciated and slightly less stressed because we were able to talk a lot. She also said that it was fun to be able to spend time with each other because we both are always really busy and do not get to hang out as much because we always happen to not be in Abilene at the same time due to her track schedule and me being busy this semester with having to go home a lot for family events like weddings and such.

For the “pleasure” part of this task, as I mentioned before I decided pretty early on in the week that I was going home, so I decided to specifically set aside about three to four hours of just hanging out outside and swimming a little bit. I decided to do this task because I love being by the water and being outside. I have always found both of these things to being very calming and stress relieving for me, so I thought it would be good to do since finals week is fast approaching and this semester has been kind of difficult for me.

Even though I enjoyed doing both tasks that I completed this week, there were definitely some differences that I could tell between the two. For the “philanthropic” task, although I enjoyed having dinner with my friend and trying to help her feel better, I had just sat in traffic and driven for three hours so I was really tired, and it took a lot of energy for me to want to get up from my bed and drive back to Arlington to eat with her. It also required me to save my money a little bit, because I mean I am a broke college kid just like everyone else. LOL The down side of my “pleasure” task was that it required me to think ahead enough and actually plan out my Saturday, which I usually do not like doing because I do not like to plan that far ahead usually. The similarities between these two tasks would be the fact that I enjoyed both of them. When it came to the “philanthropic” task I enjoy helping people in general, which is why I want to be plastic surgeon eventually, so it really wasn’t all that hard for me to want to try to help someone feel better no matter the person. I have always been involved in community service projects, even though I wouldn’t say I did any community service for this task, so I just naturally have a want to help people in any way that I can. Obviously, I also enjoyed my “pleasure” activity because I got to do something that I really enjoy doing even though it took some slight planning. I think that just this task in itself will be helpful to me in the future, because I learned that I need to set aside more time for doing things that I enjoy and that relieve stress for me. Overall, this task and module was really helpful to me in terms of getting me to think a little more about showing gratitude for others and doing things that I enjoy more often.