Whenever I feel like I can’t deal with anything, I search my house until I find one of my cats. I pet and cuddle them until I feel like I can manage the rest of the day. Spending time with my pets relieves stress and I don’t know what I would do without them.
Something that helps me while I’m going through a tough time or feeling overwhelmed is gardening. Gardening makes me more patient and mindful, providing me a space to reflect and process emotions. The act of planting seeds and watching them grow, despite challenges, symbolizes resilience and hope and reminds me that, similar to my plants, I can grow and thrive even during times of adversity.
I wanted to inform people about the importance of choosing to forgive yourself for past mistakes. These mistakes do not define you, and letting go of the resentment that you have for your past self ultimately allows for healing. But of course you cannot forgive on command, I just want people to know that whenever you are ready, it will be there for you.
The drawing is about how I cope with stress and life’s dilemmas – by listening to music, drawing, and seeing the beauty of nature. With all of these combined, the world seems to be more colorful. Without them, my world always seems to be in black and white.
This piece is about the importance of self reflection, and how it can even be therapeutic at times. Whenever I am braving a difficult time it can be really refreshing to just sit down and process it. It’s really just talking to yourself and showing yourself compassion like you would any other person going through difficult times. This strategy helped me a lot with self love and processing my emotions. In the end it made me a lot more honest with myself and I learned that if you learn to love yourself and be friends with yourself you’ll never be lonely.
It helps students reach out to other students or someone they trust to be able to talk about their feelings or something there struggling with so they don’t have to bottle it up.
My submission is a poem focused on hope and its impact on the soul, or mental health. It has the purpose of spreading why hope is important and why others should have hope to hold onto.
This piece serves as a visual reminder inspiring viewers to find hope even in the darkest moments and encouraging them to reflect on their experiences. It invites them to embrace resilience, believe in their own strength, and hold onto the unwavering light of hope.
I wrote a poem about Hope.
Anchors come in different shapes and sizes. Your anchor might not be the same as someone else’s, but that doesn’t matter – if it makes you happy, it’s for you. Taking care of yourself is important, so don’t change your anchor to fit in. I think it’s important for people to understand their anchors or things they do for fun might be different from other people.