Running head: PERSONAL FOUNDATIONS DEVELOPMENT

Personal Foundations Development

Kathleen Camire
Western Michigan University

PERSONAL FOUNDATIONS DEVELOPMENT

Personal Foundations Development

Over the course of this semester, I made it a priority to take part in activities that
would relate to the development of my personal foundations as defined by College
Student Education International and the National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators (ACPA & NASPA); albeit, I made these activities a priority in what was a
particularly busy semester mainly only because it related to my grade. However, over the
past fourteen weeks, I have come to realize precisely why those activities were a
component of my grade. As I mentioned earlier, this semester was overall much busier
than the previous semester, and therefore more stressful, but making just a few small
changes through the use of PFDAs actually resulted in a semester that was overall much
less stressful than the previous one had been. Taking part in this exercise has brought
with it a better understanding of how small interventions can have a large impact, and
that personal foundations should apply to everyone, professionals and students alike.
These strategies will prove important for my interactions with students as well as in
developing myself to become a better student affairs professional.
The publication Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Professionals
(ACPA & NASPA, 2010) describes developing competency in personal foundations as
important for maintain(ing) emotional, physical, social, environmental, relational,
spiritual, and intellectual wellness, as well as an aware(ness) of ones own areas of
strength and growth (p. 24). In hindsight, I had let many, if not most, of those things
slide when I was teaching; teaching had become my entire existence, and so it was no
wonder that I felt burned out at the end of each week. At the end of this years fall
semester I was both exhausted and excited to have a few weeks to catch up on the things

PERSONAL FOUNDATIONS DEVELOPMENT

that I loved. If I had allowed myself to do things for my own wellness throughout that
semester, rather than only for academic success, perhaps I would not have felt such an
urgent need for a break at the end of it.
Over the course of this spring semester, I made a point to engage in activities for
my own personal wellness. The first personal foundations development activity I
undertook was a 32-day challenge that has turned into a habit I plan to keep up over the
coming years. I have always been a bookworm, and as a child could be found
stereotypically reading a book with a flashlight under the covers well past my bedtime
most nights. However, when I am stressed or have a lot of work to do, I tend to stop
reading. Rather, I find myself taking research articles or scholarly chapters to bed with
me. During the fall semester, this had become a regular occurrence. While in the past, I
typically finished a book every two weeks, by the end of the fall semester I had not read a
single book for pleasure. In addition, I was not sleeping well; I was activating my brain
with research and homework and then trying to fall asleep afterward. It was a bad
combination. This spring semester, I made a pact with myself not to take school reading
to bed with me, and instead, to read for pleasure each night, even if it was only a few
pages before I fell asleep. Through this small change, a basic competency to recognize
and articulate healthy habits for better living (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 24), I have
noticed vast improvements in my mood, my sleep, and my overall productivity. I found
that by allowing myself to read for pleasure, I actually increased my average reading
speed; now, I can read my assigned chapters and articles faster. In addition to an
awareness of healthy habits, I feel that this practice relates well with the personal
foundation regarding an understanding that wellness is a broad concept comprised of

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emotional, physical, social, environmental, relational, spiritual, and intellectual elements

(ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p.24). It was about being more aware of how my environment
(articles in bed) was affecting my emotions and even physical wellbeing, and making the
changes necessary improve all aspects of my wellness.
The second personal foundations activity I committed to was to return to my
Weight Watchers regime, which I had used successfully before, until I allowed myself to
drop it whenever I was feeling stress. I allowed stress to overwhelm me in the previous
months, and in turn had allowed myself to stop eating healthy, using excuses about not
having enough time or being too overwhelmed to care. I made this a 32-day commitment
as well, and by pairing it with my commitment to reading, I noticed a large change in my
overall wellbeing; my feelings of being overwhelmed mostly abated, because I was
reading faster and better able to get my work done and feeling much less lethargic by
eating and sleeping better as well. This activity is another way in which I took a more
active role in healthy habits, but I also believe it fits in with the benefits of my third
activity, which, when combined with my reading and tracking on Weight Watchers, vastly
improved my ability to identify positive and negative effects on psychological wellness,
and, as appropriate, seek assistance from available resources (ACPA & NASPA, 2010,
p.24). That third activity was to attend hot yoga on several Sundays with my husband.
While we are not religious people, my way of achieving psychological (and spiritual)
peace comes in two ways: attending my oil painting class at home in Connecticut, and
attending yoga. It is only during those two activities that I am capable of shutting down
the constant running of my mind. I recognize that in order to maintain psychological

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wellbeing, I need to engage in those activities, and while I cannot go back to Connecticut
to paint every Tuesday night, I can regularly make it to a yoga class.
Overall, this exercise has taught me a lot about the impact personal wellness can
have on professional achievement. I had always operated under the assumption that
fun activities could only be undertaken after every single other obligation had already
been fulfilled. I failed to take into account, however, that those activities may very well
help improve my ability to get my obligations done, perhaps even at a higher quality. I
often meet with students who are overwhelmed; many of them are much like me and
allow themselves to get run down, failing to take care of themselves until after all their
tests and due dates have passed. Undertaking this exercise has taught me more than
simply reading about it ever could; I will now be able to utilize a better understanding of
the importance of personal foundations in my interactions with students who may be
going down the same path I used to occupy regularly. Taking care of oneself, in mind,
body, and spirit, has to be a priority in order to succeed in anything over the long term,
and I will keep this at the forefront of my mind as I help students over the course of my
career.

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References
College Student Educators International. National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators (U.S.) (2010). Professional competency areas for student affairs
practitioners. Washington, DC: College Student Educations International.