I know how to stimulate my imagination – I write stories and songs as a hobby and used to be hit with long periods of time where I would be unable to come up with anything. What would often happen is I would come up with a topic of interest, but my mind would go blank when I tried to write anything down. I’ve tried multiple different methods of brainstorming ideas, but the method that has shown the most success is sitting down in a silent area and allowing myself to freely write without worrying about quality. When I write, I tend to edit as I go and feel the need to write it well the first time, which results in me becoming stuck when I can’t think of anything “good” to write down. However, by freely writing down anything that comes to mind without worrying about the quality, I find that I’m able to generate ideas that can be further built upon.

I can recognize my own needs and what I need to do to maintain my mental and physical well-being – I used to downplay my own needs and ignore my feelings, believing that things would sort themselves out on their own. However, I’ve learned that this is very harmful behaviour and that I need to take initiative if I want to maintain my well-being. When I need help with anything, instead of trying to figure things out myself and struggling alone, I know how to ask for help when I need it. I like listening to podcasts or my favourite music when I walk to and from school to maintain my mental well-being and do taekwondo to maintain my physical well-being.

I can celebrate my own accomplishments – I find that in many aspects of my life, I tend to be overly critical of myself and constantly think of ways to improve. While wanting to be better isn’t inherently bad, it can be harmful when you only start to only look at your flaws and what you’re missing. I want to shift my focus from thinking about where I could be to seeing how much I’ve grown, while acknowledging that growth isn’t linear or something I should compare myself to others with. I will continue to set goals for myself to work towards, but will also work on celebrating my own achievements, even if they feel small. This could be as simple as saying, “I’ve worked hard and done a good job”, but is better than only focusing on the negatives and regretting what I could have done better or didn’t do.