Communication can avoid a lot of misunderstandings. If you do not communicate how is someone supposed to know what you are doing or thinking? No one can read minds, well at least I think, no one can. I communicate every day with the people I surround myself with. I let them know how I am feeling and I also ask them how they are feeling,tc. I communicate with children about how they are feeling and anything that they want to tell me! With working with children every day, I would say I am a strong leader. I am someone the students can look up to and I am leading and guiding them in positive directions by helping them grow and learn. I also see the positive in things. I for sure am a glass-half-full individual. I work with children and I try to teach the students how to be resilient. For example, one student has a visual schedule and there is a place to put green choices and a place to put red choices. When the student gets a red choice they tend to get stuck on that, and it is my job to let the student know that it is okay. I state "we all make mistakes." I let them know my mistakes as well. I also let the student know that they can try again tomorrow to make a green choice. Since I am teaching students about being resilient, I would say I am a very resilient person. If I mess up I think of a new way to do something or tell myself that I can try again. I would say that I always put others' needs above my own. I make sure that everyone is full before I continue to eat. I am always there for my friends even when I am struggling on my own. I will go out of my way to do something for someone. When other people are sad, I tend to feel sad too. For example, we just had an individual come and tour our house as a potential subleaser and their dog had an accident (bowel movement) inside the house. I felt so bad that I wanted to start crying for her. I am not sure why I am this way. Determined is a great word that describes me. I will do something over and over again until I get it right. I want to get it perfect. Sometimes, is difficult to understand that not everything is going to be perfect. When I was in gymnastics I would do a skill over and over again until I felt it was perfect. Now, I am very determined to get good grades, be able to live on my own without help and be successful in my career of teaching. When I am asked to do something I get it done. I do not do a sloppy job, I take my time to do the best I can. When I would be at work cleaning trucks I would take so long to clean a truck but I wanted to make sure everything was clean and do my best work. My boss said that the other employees stated that they have never seen the trucks so clean. Now, I have a strong work ethic in getting my homework done and working to be able to afford to live on my own. I am a student teacher so I find it difficult to work so I have been doing instacarts to gain money. Thank you for taking the time, to read this!

I currently have a dog with my boyfriend. He is a male German Shorthair Pointer. His name is Boone and he is two years old now. He is full of energy and he helps me stay active by getting outside and going for walks and hikes, etc. He is a hunting dog, so we take him out hunting when we can. He is the best hunting dog! He has taught me so many things. I never thought I could learn so much from a dog. He has taught me responsibility by making sure he has food and water every day. Also, by bathing him, when he is dirty, brushing him, etc. I try to make sure that his mind gets stimulated. I do this by giving him food in a puzzle and also by saying commands for him to follow. I make sure that they has things that he can chew to keep him busy as well. I do not like when he has to be in his kennel all day when I am at school. I am a student teacher so I am at school Monday through Friday from 7:15 to 3:15. With that being said, I would wake up around five and bring him to a dog park to go potty. Sometimes, I would take him for walks, but he has so much energy that I like to get him off the leash and bring him to dog parks so he can roam. I feel bad that he is in his kennel all day so I would race home to get him outside. I usually bring him to a dog park. One night I was out walking him and we got five feet away from a 6 point buck. We were standing five feet away from the deer for so long too! Boone and I kept creeping up to try to get as close as we could. It was crazy that Boone didn't spook the deer away. It is difficult having a dog with roommates. One night I was cooking and my roommate ordered food she opened the door to get her food from the delivery driver, and all of a sudden I hear my other roommate yell "the dog, the dog." I dropped what I was cooking and didn't even turn the burner off and ran outside barefoot to catch him. Luckily, there were dogs just around the corner so, he was checking out the other dogs. I think that he might give me gray hair! I feel that I care more for my dog than I do for myself! He is so silly and goofy and he makes me laugh. I would say that he helps me with my mental health. He is always there for me, well I guess because he has to be. Boone loves to cuddle and loves to sit right on me. I treat Mr. Boone like a baby. I just hope that he is living his best life as I try my best to make sure he has a good life. All dogs deserve the world! They are so innocent and sometimes I think that we humans do not even deserve furry animals! Thank you for taking the time to read this, I appreciate it!

When I was a senior on the gymnastics team I was also a captain. I would drive students to practice from our high school as our gym was not at our high school. One day I was observing a kindergarten teacher, as I was placed in her classroom to learn more about the carer, and when I was leaving I had a lot of text messages and phone calls. I was very confused about what was going on. So, I called my friend and her voice was so shaky and she said that she would tell me when I got to the high school. After, the call ended I felt my stomach drop and had so many thoughts swirling around in my head. I just wanted to get to high school as fast as I could so I could know what was going on. Once, I arrived I walked to my friend and she had tears rolling down her face and this is when I really got scared. She told me that our teammate who I would drive to practice every day committed suicide. I was so shocked I did not know what to do. We proceeded to walk together into the high school and into the office, where I met all of my teammates and coaches whose eyes were filled with tears. We sat in silence, and you could only hear my teammate's and coaches' sniffles as they wipe their eyes and noses. Our hearts were filled with sadness. We spent the rest of the day with each other and were there for one another. This was such a hard time in my life. I brought her to practice every day, and I just kept thinking "I should have done something differently, I should have reached out more, etc." I almost felt that I could have been a reason out of many that she did what she did. I knew that I was a captain and I had to be strong for all of my teammates. I wish that I knew my teammate was struggling with her mental health so that I could help or encourage her to seek help. I hope that people will seek help when they need it and not hide it. Mental health is so important and I think a lot of society now struggles with mental health. I know that I have struggled with my mental health. I would feel that no one cares about me. I reached out for help and now I am doing much better with my mental health. I maintain my mental health by getting exercise, whether it be going to the gym or just going outside. I love the outdoors and try to go outside every day, even if it is 10 degrees outside. I also try to eat a healthy diet, but I struggle with this as I do not have enough money to cook healthy meals at home. Junk food tends to be cheaper. I also prioritize my mental health by staying busy. I am a student teacher and I am at the school Monday through Friday from 7:15-3:15. Then, I would go home and clean and do homework, etc. With that being said mental health should be a top priority around the world because everyone deserves to be happy no one should ever feel like they do not belong somewhere. Thank you for taking the time to read this, as it was not easy to write.

Who doesn't love to be goofy? I know everyone is goofy, even if they don't want to admit it. With that being said, my favorite Disney character would have to be Goofy. I love the word goofy too and feel that I am a very goofy person. I love to laugh but also like goofy I get sad at times too. This is what makes us human. If we were goofy all the time I would be scared that we were robots. It is okay to be sad and most importantly it is good to recognize how you are feeling. I am a student teacher. Recently, I just finished my student teaching placement as an early childhood special education teacher. We taught the students how to recognize their emotions. We did this by creating zones. The zones consisted of red (mad), blue (sad), yellow (silly), and green (happy). We also added characters showing those emotions. For example, the students loved Baby Yoda so we added happy, sad, mad, and silly Baby Yoda to the zones. The students loved this and it helped them learn about how they are feeling and ways to deal with those feelings. The Disney character Goofy is also a dog. I love dogs! I have a German Shorthair Pointer of my own. He is so precious and I care more about him than I do myself! Animals are so innocent and they deserve the world, sometimes I think that we humans don't even deserve animals! When I was younger I couldn't even watch a lot of Disney movies that had animals in them because I would be too sad if one of the animals got hurt or passed away. So, I avoided movies with animals in them. It doesn't make much sense as they are kid movies and nothing serious would happen. I am just goofy that way. Thank you for taking the time to read this!

I have struggled with anxiety and depression in the past and still struggle with them. It has gotten better over time as I have seen a doctor for it. I struggle with feeling that people do not care about me. Which is crazy because I know so many people care for me! So, I guess I am not sure why I think that way. I will go out of my way to help others and I take on the emotions of others. For example, we recently just had an individual tour our house as a potential subleaser and her dog had an accident (bowel movement) in the house. I felt so bad, and wanted to start crying for her! I am not sure why I am like this. To maintain my nutritional health I do my best at eating well. However, this is hard to do as I can not afford to make a healthy home-cooked meal every night as it gets to be expensive. Diet is a huge part of mental and physical health. I maintain my physical health by going to the gym and by also just going outside. I enjoy going outside and hope to get outside every day, even if it is 10 degrees outside. I have a dog and he is very energetic and loves to be outside and could run all day. I think more about making sure my dog is okay rather than myself. I just want to make sure he is having a good life. Maintaining my mental health can be a struggle but I feel that it is important to communicate. I communicate my emotions with my friends and family. I try not to keep anything in and express how I am feeling. I know many people keep things in, but for my mental health, I have to express my feelings. Even going outside and eating right is good for my mental health. Staying busy helps with my mental, physical, and nutritional health. I believe that mental, physical, and nutritional health all work hand in hand! am a student teacher, so I would be at school from 7:15-3:15 Monday through Friday and I would come home and usually clean and get my homework done. I would just find something to do. Staying busy helps me not think about so many things and it also helps me get things done. I feel more motivated to do my homework if I have a busy day. Which, sounds goofy, but if I wasn't student teaching all day I struggle with finding the motivation to get my homework done. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!