Cover Story: The New Wellness Resolution

THE NEW WELLNESS RESOLUTION:

How Service Can Transform Your Girl This New Year

“New year, new me.” It’s a mentality adopted around the world every January, typically met with fizzled results by month’s end. But we know there’s nothing magical about January— change only happens when we’re committed to making it. Resolutions that aren’t rooted in true desire and actionable ability are sure to be dismantled by our life’s daily habits.

Wellness is the most-popular resolution adopted by Americans, including exercise and healthy eating, but as our society’s understanding of wellness grows, so too does our understanding of how to achieve it. Today’s girls are suffocated by feelings of anxiety, depression, and identity confusion. The pressures of society coerce them to reach for unattainable ideals, seek unhealthy validation, and live in a constant state of pressure. But Generation Z has tapped into something that recent generations have lost sight of—civic engagement, specifically in word and action for a deserving cause outside of our immediate circle, is an anecdote for self-centered, anxious thought. Volunteering is actually a gateway to mental wellness.

Cultivating a Heart for Service

While movies and television can lead us to believe that today’s adolescents are purely image-obsessed and self-centered, we know this is not the case. Truth to be told, girls love service because God designed humankind that way. The desire to serve is something He instilled in each of our hearts. We were created to live in God-honoring community, giving and receiving help, prayer, and support to one another. But service extends our care beyond our family and friends and reaches outward. Today’s youth are engaged and concerned for their communities, our nation, and our world. Young people sense a strong call to advocate and make change, and they are ready to respond. American Heritage Girls gives girls a chance to create meaningful change by serving in the community.

American Heritage Girls of all ages are challenged to make a difference by putting ‘legs on their faith’ and often prove they have the hearts, skills, and creativity to serve others in a multitude of ways. From Pathfinders to Patriots, these young women for Christ can teach our culture a thing or two about answering the call to live an altruistic life. Girls nationwide are answering God’s call to serve through their AHG Troop, allowing them an opportunity to develop compassion, empathy, understanding, and respect for others.

Serving a Solution

According to the Center for Disease Control, anxiety and depression affect millions of children in the U.S., and their prevalence continues to rise. Reported findings show that 4.4 million children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with anxiety, while another 1.9 million have been diagnosed with depression. Now, children face the possibility of ongoing negative mental effects from their experience with the pandemic on top of this ongoing spike. In December 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General reported “a 51% increase in ER visits for suicide attempts by adolescent girls in the U.S. in 2021, as compared to the same period in 2019.” This shocking statistic once again confirms the need to come alongside our girls in fostering their mental well-being.

While treatment for these clinical mental health disorders varies for every child, there are common methods of symptom management recommended to all. Healthy eating, daily exercise, getting enough sleep, and practicing some sort of relaxation method, like Christ-honoring mindfulness and prayer, are all ways to calm the mind. Another way is to be of service to someone else. Science shows that ultimately serving others serves us. From lowering blood pressure in adults over 50 to creating “The Helper’s High”, a feeling of joy and delight caused by releasing dopamine in the brain, volunteering does just as much good inside the volunteer as outside in their community.

For girls struggling with mild depression, especially after the lingering isolation of the pandemic, service opportunities are an important way to guide girls into developing a healthy relationship with re-entry and socialization with people outside of their “bubble”. Troops that are finding girls struggling with their mental health are encouraged to find a healthy balance among the faith, service, and fun that girls find in AHG. Adding an impactful service project to the calendar, one that leaves girls feeling like they made a real difference, is one way to create space for mental wellness. Better yet, invite girls to the planning table, welcoming their creativity and their interests to the conversation. With genuine interest comes strong buy-in, something that will only fuel the lasting effects of meaningful service work. For a Gen Z girl, the successful completion of a service project isn’t about the number of hours counted toward a Service Star, but rather an opportunity to see that she made a real difference in the world.

Giving for the Greater Good

We are faced with the problems of the world each time we open our phones, tune into the nightly news, or pass by the newspapers upon exiting the grocery store. Thanks to the information age, our girls are informed on issues, but that knowledge often comes with feelings of overwhelm. But in the face of these overwhelming problems, we each have the power to make the world a bit more joyful by answering the call of the gospel. As Christians, we’re called to altruism—unselfishly doing kind things for others, not out of feelings of obligation, but out of love. As the mid-century hymn based on John 13:35 goes, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” We are each called to bring God’s goodness through loving service into our homes, communities, and nations, revealing the power in loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Volunteering gives girls a sense of being part of the solution to the world’s issues rather than contributing to its problems. By shifting their focus to lending a helping hand, girls feel more confident, purposeful, and happy in life. Motivated by these feelings of fulfillment, girls often discover passions and abilities that lead them to discover their life’s vocation. Perhaps by serving a hot meal to those experiencing homelessness, a girl in your Troop may discover the desire to pursue social work. Or maybe a Stars & Stripes Award project could lead a girl to choose a year of service after high school to improve a community. Even a simple pen pal program with a local assisted living facility could spark the desire for more meaningful connections with a girl’s aging family members.

This January, stay committed to a new wellness resolution through service. But just as a newfound dedication to exercise or healthy eating, don’t expect to see the transformational impact immediately in your girls. Scripture points us time and again to care for our fellow man, but it never said it would be an easy feat! It’s through regular service to others and learning why God calls us to serve that, in the long-term, volunteering develops more selfless, fulfilled, and happy young people. Offering regularly-scheduled service opportunities gives girls (and Troop volunteers!) a consistent model for living altruistically and experiencing the healing effects that guide them toward mental wellness.