In this piece music is my anchor. Intricate melodies help me find the light when I feel stuck in the dark. Music gives me hope. Hope that whatever problem I am facing will soon be resolved. That is why I have chosen music as my anchor.
With this piece, my goal was to show a runner escaping a cluster of chaotic things. Running has been my “anchor” over the past few months, so I decided to have the person running away from the sort of nonsensical, disorganized madness that, without an anchor, can really leave people detached from what matters. I painted the runner fairly small because it allowed the overwhelmingness of all of the stuff behind it to show through, while also setting them in front of the objects to give the idea of an escape. I also used night and day to represent the more chaotic aspects of the right side of the painting and the calm of the left.
My submission is a poem about reading, reading has always helped me ever since I can remember. Using my head and imagination for reading helps me get out of any thoughts I don’t want to be listening to. I believe everyone should have a happy place and I want to inspire people to look for their own happy place if it’s writing, singing, and or drawing. I want them to have a safe space.
My entry is a poem that explains my mental state before and after music and the positive impact it can have on someones life. During the start of my poem, I wrote about not being in the best state of mind mentally and losing hope trying to seek out a coping mechanism. Then by the end of the poem, I discover my love for music and seem to be in a much better place. My entry relates to the contest submission criteria because music has always been my anchor, the thing that I can rely on.
My entry is about journaling, and the positive impacts it can have on someone. Journaling is a very useful coping strategy, and in doing it you can creative positive and healthy habits for yourself. Everyone needs an outlet and an anchor to get through the bad times, and journaling my feelings and thoughts is mine. It relates back to the required content submission criteria because I expressed the influence journaling has had on my life and the way I deal with things.
My entry is about someone who feels lost in their own negativity and self-hate. Most of this stems from their fear of people and their expectations of who you should be as a person. This makes them feel like they’ll never be worth enough, and what’s worse is no one out there seems to be able to see their struggles. However, their anchor that supports them are the people at home, and even though they still struggle with their own self-worth, their family can make it a little more bearable. And it also gives them hope that maybe one day, they’ll be able to escape the unhealthy mindset.
My poem is an example of how many of us go through extremely difficult times and continue to have the question, “Why should we go on? What is holding me here?” And I wanted to show through my poem that we are our own anchor even if we do not feel like we are.
Dear Jane shows that life gets better, and even the happiest people struggle, everyone does. Your future self is rooting for you and would give you a big hug if they could. I want people to know it’s okay to struggle right now, but it gets better.
I wrote an email to my future self in which I share some ways to cope with stress.
I decided to use my little sister to represent my younger self to show my growth as a person. This was to show how I was able to persevere and grow up.