Health Communication- Personal

Because many aspects of health communication are so serious, I decided that I would discuss a personal experience that was somewhat humorous compared to a mass disease. I would like to talk about by practice with the stages of change model, and my need to quit drinking diet soda! Let’s face it; many women throughout the world share this same problem. I know that this “fake sugar” cannot benefit my body, and to be honest, I was having around twenty diet sodas a day. During my pre-contemplation stage, I was soooo not ready to change. I was out at restaurants drinking this carcinogenic liquid like it was my job. I loved every kind of diet soda, and my mind could not fathom the idea of giving up all this caffeine. Then one day I thought about how much I depended on diet soda to get through the day- I know it’s quite sad. I really needed it! I never wanted to depend on something in my life, so I began to contemplate changing. In preparation I thought about all the ways I could quit consuming this stuff. Oh, it was going to be hard!!! I first thought that I could quit “cold turkey.” This did not work as I had horrible headaches from the lack of constant caffeine. Even through this pain, I was in action. I then decided that for one week I would only have two diet sodas a day. Then, the next week I would only have one diet soda. This would happen until I could finally quit having any soda at all. One day, after many days of action, I believed that I could live without a soda. And I did- after that day I only drank water! I felt better, and I felt more hydrated. I also liked that I no longer was dependent on this substance to make me happy. These benefits allowed me to maintain drinking water for a couple of months. Then one night I went to dinner… and relapsed (gasp). Yes, I had five tall glasses of diet soda. And to this day I am drinking diet soda. You could say that I am stuck into the relapse stage which is quite sad. I am hoping to quit again someday, but right now I need a vice.