Earlier this year, I demonstrated resilience when my grandfather passed away. He had gotten sick in 2018 with a rare form of dementia. Everyone in my family was in denial about it for a while because we couldn't believe it. He seemed okay in the years before his death, so the diagnosis was shocking. My mom and I live with my grandmother and grandfather, so we had to watch as his sickness worsened. Gradually, over the four years, he went from walking around to barely being able to stand. He would know who we were one day, and then he'd be rude to you because he thought you were a stranger. Everyone adored my grandfather because of his personality and humor. He's also the best with kids. When I was little, he would always play with me. We'd go to the park and play on the swings. When my cousins visited, he'd make jokes to hear them laugh and take us all to the park. My cousins and I would go down slides with him and on the swings with him. We have many good memories of him. I would think of those memories every time I saw him while he was sick. My cousins barely saw him during his last two years because of the Covid-19 quarantine. They only saw him once or twice, so the state he was in towards the end was quite a shock. The day he died was unexpected. I didn't think it would happen just like that. I thought there would be a sign so we could prepare. The days leading up to the funeral were surreal; I couldn't believe it was happening. I didn't know how to feel on the day of the funeral. Whenever someone came up to me, I immediately put a smile on my face to hide the fact that I was hurting. My cousins had never been to a funeral before, so I could tell they were scared when they first came in. I came up to them smiling and hugged them. As soon as they saw my smile, they smiled back and were no longer afraid. I told them there was no reason to be scared and everything was okay. My cousins and I are super close, almost like sisters. They think of me as a big sister. I realized they looked up to me, so I needed to stop letting his death weigh me. The more they saw me down, the sadder they were, and I didn't want that for them. I reminded myself of all those good memories and made sure those were the last thing I remembered of him. Over time, it made me feel better. I told my cousins that if they did the same, it would make them feel better. I think I inspired them a little when they noticed how much happier I seemed—teaching myself to be resilient encouraged them to do the same.

Joy to me means happiness. The feeling of happiness. The feeling you get from doing something you enjoy or the feeling you get when you are around the people you love and care about. For me I seek joy in little things or from myself. I don’t have many friends since the pandemic so I don’t have many people that I can be around to give me that joyful feeling. I do feel happy sometimes around family of course but the word sometimes shows that I shouldn’t seek joy from my family and my family only. I feel that people should rely more on themselves rather than other people for joy. The little things in life still mean a lot even if there do little. For me I seek joy in music, baking, exercise, sunsets, and maybe even the weather. I listen to music all of the time and sing along and it makes me feel content. Same with watching the sunset and baking. Sunny weather makes me feel so happy for some reason. Any day that it’s sunny and bright out my mood 10 times better.