FINALLY!!!!!!

FINALLY IT IS OVER!!! I treated myself to a cookie pizza at midnight 🙂

This week might have been one of the longest weeks of my life and now I am going to reflect on it as a whole. First, I’ll start with the negatives, then I’ll end with the positives because I always like to end on a good note.

Negatives: This week was beyond challenging. First, it challenged me physically because I was hungry and tired all the time. I learned that hunger is a feeling you will never get used to or adapt to. It never got easier and I never got used to it. Eating way less also lessened my energy significantly. Walking around campus and going to classes made me tired very quickly and at volleyball practices, I felt like I was going to faint every time I jumped. The physical challenges led to mental challenges as well. I was cranky and stressed all the time. It really challenged my self control and honor. It also challenged me intellectually. I constantly had to think about what I was eating and how much it was worth and then compare it to a situation of someone in poverty. Blogging about each meal was a huge time commitment and took a lot of effort as well. There are a few things I didn’t like about the challenge. First, as I already discussed in a previous blog post, it never gave me the feeling of insecurity and at times, it felt like a game more than a challenge. I also really struggled with the time commitment and the effects of the challenge. I struggled all week in my other classes because of it. I did poorly on my tests, and spent less time on my work for my other classes both because I couldn’t focus, and because of the time commitment it took to calculate the prices for everything and constantly blog. While I understand that this is what people in poverty struggle with on a daily basis, my other professors were not so understanding. Above all though, what struck me the most about the SNAP challenge in our class happened before our challenge even started. In the class before our challenge started, I raised my hand to ask a question. I asked, “Dr. Gower, will you be doing this challenge with us?” Dr .Gower laughed and responded, “ah I was afraid someone would ask that. I have to think about it but I don’t think I am.” Looking back on it now, I should have asked why, but instead I asked, “Well did you do it with the class last semester?” She said no. This conversation really struck me because Dr. Gower is really great at teaching and talking from experience and so hearing that she has now assigned four classes to this huge challenge was very disappointing.

Positives: This challenge gave me a new perspective on so many things. I don’t think I will ever be able to eat another meal without thinking of what it’s worth. I think this is a really good change in my life because it makes me more aware of my actions and my lifestyle, and more appreciative of what I have and my opportunities. Not only does this new perspective effect my outlook on food, but also my spending in general. I think twice about everything I buy and value its worth so much more. This challenge also fueled my passion for serving my community and fighting for justice. While I’ve always had that passion, this challenge made it so much stronger and made me realize that the systemic issues are way greater than people can even begin to understand. The cycle of poverty needs to be broken. This challenge made me realize that food literally affects EVERYTHING. Hunger affects every single aspect of your lifestyle. It affects you physically, mentally, and emotionally. It changes your performance in school and work and it changes your social interactions. This challenge solidified my belief that not only access to food is a fundamental human right, but access to QUALITY food is a human right and access to enough of it. Anyone who disagrees needs to try this challenge. I think our community should challenge our government to the SNAP challenge. The results would be fascinating. In fact, it might be interesting if our class wrote a letter about our experiences and shared our blogs with our political leaders and challenge them to try it.

I’m not gonna lie, I am SO proud of myself for completing this challenge. I definitely wouldn’t to it again, but I’m glad I did it. I learned just as much about myself through this challenge as I did about what it would feel like to live on food stamps.