My favorite piece of art is The Pictures at an Exhibition, which is a musical suite written by Modest Mussorgsky. I love the various pieces that make up the whole suite and the various tones that convey different types of imagery. Some moments some pieces denote strolling through an art gallery. There are other pieces that signify grief and awareness of death. Yet, still, there are other pieces that bring up grandiose imagery of valor and peace. I also love this suite because Mussorgsky had composed it for his friend, Victor Hartmann, who had just passed away. I love the passion and dedication that is behind this suite in honor of his friend. I can feel the emotion and care that is behind this that denotes the friendship that Mussorgsky had with Hartmann. Last, this suite helps me focus on my homework. Classical music has helped me with focus and this suite provides the variety that I need to be creative to work.

Recently, I attended a play for my sister who had one of the lead roles. For the context of the play, it was the musical of Shrek and my sister played the part of the dragon. Not to sound biased, but my sister was a perfect fit for that role. In the context of my sister, she has struggled with mental health and has been on the spectrum for all of her life. Because of these difficulties, she has struggled socially and has been bullied for her mannerisms. Furthermore, it has been hard for her since she loves people and being bullied for things she cannot control has made her struggle with her mental health. That all being said, she is very talented musically and academically. For music, she has been playing piano since around the age of 8 and has been in numerous amount of plays and choirs. Also, she is musically trained and knows good techniques to sing well. As for academics, she is interested in many subjects and pushes herself for perfection in her grades. Needlessly to say, she is talented which is how she got the role of the dragon in the Shrek musical. Onto the musical itself. So my fiancée and I went to the opening night of this musical. By the end of the musical, we were both impressed by the talent and the hard work that my sister put into her role. My sister was excited and happy to see us there. On another note, the day that we went to the musical was also my sister's birthday. So, we both wished my sister a good birthday and told her how proud of her we were. My sister was happy that we were there and told us that she admired us which is why our validation was important. As much positive effect it had on her, I think it impacted me positively also. More than anything, I learned a valuable lesson about family. I learned that it is worthwhile to show up for family which helps connect with them and they feel love from you by showing up. This is evident by how my sister expressed how she felt love from me and how I felt more connected with her more than before. The bottom line, this experience was educational for me since I learned the importance of showing up for family in terms of connection and love.

I owe a lot to having pets in my life. Living as an independent student with a learning disability who also happens to be an introvert, it is hard to socialize with other people. That being said, it does not mean that I enjoy being alone. I need to have some sort of company or else my mental health will get worse. This is why pets are important to me. They provide company for me while providing lessons that have changed my life. Having pets has changed my life because, as someone who has owned two cats, I have learned that it is important to give space when needed. If you pet a cat too much, they will get mad. This basic lesson has helped me with social cues. I also have learned that it is important to be present in the moment. When I am stressed, I try to take some time to play with my cats and pet them. This practice has helped me enjoy life a bit more by learning to be more present with the current joys of life. This goes into my last lesson which is that I have learned to laugh more. Oftentimes, my cats will do strange things that will make me laugh. For example, my cat once hopped like a bunny when she was trying to get comfortable while cuddling with me. This made me laugh since I did not expect it. This has changed my life since I have learned to laugh and see the humor in little things. While my pets have educated me in important life lessons, I also just love having pets. They provide me with company without taking up too much energy. They make me feel less alone. They are loving towards me while they cuddle with me or meow at me. All these reasons that I love pets, especially cats, fall under the fact that they are a good company to have around.

I practice bravery by always moving forward, despite the odds and the adversity. Living as a first-generation student with a learning disability, I have always faced adversity in many areas of my life. Some of this adversity has sometimes tested my limits and there were times when I was not sure if I was going to make it through them. Despite this adversity, however, I have learned that the best approach is to always move forward, even in the face of adversity and hardship. I adopted this mindset because I knew that feeling sorry for myself would not solve anything. Rather, I have learned that it is more productive to face adversity with everyone that I have, even if there is no guarantee for success. Facing hardship with tenacity has taught me that it takes a lot of bravery to practice such a mindset in order to love boldly. Furthermore, this mindset has helped and continues to help me with success in my life.

When I go through really tough times, I keep reminding myself that this will eventually pass and I will get through it. I first adopted this mindset during the beginning of the pandemic when my academic work was hard with all the stress of transition and world events. I can't remember how I came up with this thought, but I remember putting it randomly in a bio on one of my social media accounts. Upon doing this, I began to consider the significance of that phrase. I realized that things might seem tough right now, but they will get better if I work at them. Things did get better, and I have learned that bad times are just temporary. I also learned that effort also makes the bad times even more temporary. Even now, as I go through current tough times, I keep reminding myself that no matter how bad things get, I will find a way through them and they will get better.

I help my community by leaving my door open, literally. I live in an apartment complex in the city and everyone in the building (myself included) goes to the same graduate school. Furthermore, we all go through our stresses which all add up. Some of us go through bigger stresses than others. That being said, it affects everyone negatively which can also affect us as a collective whole. I do what I can to act locally and bring positive change to my community by leaving the door to my apartment open. I do this so that people can come to me when they need to talk. Whether it's about their stresses or successes, I can be an outlet for people to tell their stories. This helps everyone on two levels. First, this provides a way for the community to connect. The second is that everyone can depend on me in times of worry. At the end, I do what I can for my community by leaving my door open so that no one has to suffer with their stresses alone.

One personal finance lesson that I learned that I found important was the practice of budgeting and writing it all down. I am good about not spending an unnecessary amount of money. The issue I have is with money anxiety; not spending money even when it is okay and necessary. Making a budget and writing it down has helped me cope with this issue in a couple of ways. First, I have a plan and I know what I am using my money for. Here, I can split my money into categories such as fun spending, necessities, rent, etc. This planning helps me know what I am setting aside for my money which helps me in another way. This second way is that I don't feel as guilty when I spend money on something. Since I budgeted my money, I know how much I can spend which makes it easier to spend my money either for fun or when it is necessary to do so.

f there is anything that has drastically changed my perspective in life it's the phrase 'It's not about you." This changed my view on life in a couple of ways. First, this phrase changed my view of people. I used to think that people were bad and were always out to get me. Upon hearing this phrase, however, this viewpoint changed. I began to realize that people are rude for other reasons. Maybe they had a bad day. Maybe they had a tragedy in the family. The point is that I was not the reason they were rude to me most of the time. Now I see that sometimes people, even though they don't mean to, are rude because of their circumstances. Second, this phrase changed how I view suffering. I sued to think that the world was a cruel place. Now, I see that bad thing just happen because they just do. This does not evoke apathy in me. Rather, we should all be here for each other when bad things happen, even when they are not our fault. This is especially true for injustice, which may not be about individual people, per se. But, taken on the systemic whole, we should consider how the impersonal affects individual people and should help others as much as we can in these regards.

There would be a few things I would do with $1,000 if I had access to it right now. My first impulse is to use it for my utilities and rent. I am currently attending graduate school in Berkeley and rent money is important in my current situation. However, I would use that $1,000 in a different way. I would split it and give it to my fiancée and my grandparents. I would give some money to my fiancée for a couple of reasons. First, I would give some money to her because she is also in need of money. She works a full-time job, but I want to provide for her so that she doesn't have to worry about her expenses, even if it's just for a month. Second, I owe a lot of who I am to her. She has helped and supported me in various ways to be a better person and pursue a graduate degree. I want to give some money to her to begin to give thanks for everything she has done for me. I would also give some money to my grandparents for some of the same reasons. They have helped me financially in a tremendous amount of ways, which is especially true for my financial needs in my current situation. I want to be able to give back to them also to begin to say thanks for all the support.

There are a few resources I like to employ to clear my mind and help maintain good mental health. Some are mentioned in the list in the above description. As for the resource mindfulness. I always try to challenge my thoughts, especially the irrational ones. Through the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, I try to make sure if my thoughts are based on reality, or if they are irrational fears that are holding me back. This helps clear my mind because I can control my thoughts which also helps me have more control over my actions. I also love running, especially when I put on Metal or Epic Soundtrack music. Here, I feel very invigorated since the running helps me push against my weakness and the music makes me imagine that I am the hero in a movie. This invigoration helps me feel powerful which also helps my self-esteem. Journaling is something else I like to employ for my mental health. I love learning about myself. Oftentimes, I question why I do or feel certain things in my life. Sometimes, I can get an answer from it from memories. This gives me a so-called 'epiphany' moment. This pushes me to write it down in a journal. I like to do this since it is like writing an autobiography about myself and I like to read what I wrote in therapy for more clarification. The same holds for my dreams which might seem chaotic. But when I write it down and reflect on it, I can get insights into my personal life even further. Positive Affirmations are something that my partner helps me out with regularly. I am very hard on myself which manifests verbally when I say negative things about myself. My partner, when she hears me say one bad thing about myself, makes me say one good thing about myself. This is good for me since I have to both think and talk about good things about myself, what I am good at, and what I have achieved. This helps me be less hard on myself and have a better sense of self-esteem. The last, and my favorite resource to employ for my mental health is the Growth Mindset. This helps build resilience in tackling adversity for me on two levels. First, I'm able to view myself as anyone who can do and get through anything instead of just feeling sorry for myself. Second, I can come up with various ideas to get through tough situations since I view myself as a survivor who can adapt and overcome adversity and hardship.

It is really hard to choose a favorite book since I have so many. But, If I had to choose one, it would be Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. I love this book for two main reasons. First, this book challenges my assumptions. Before reading this book, I held on to certain beliefs that helped me navigate against uncertainty and existential angst. While these beliefs have helped me, this book made me question my assumptions and deconstruct them to have a more realistic view of reality. Furthermore, this book made me see the merits of living with uncertainty. In other words, I do not need the answers to every existential and metaphysical question. Rather, I can learn to live with uncertainty since it entails seeing the world with curiosity and wonder. Second, this book offers practical advice for future issues. This book approaches the issues of Artificial Intelligence, Climate Change, Ideologies, War, and other issues. This book helped me learn about these issues in depth while offering questions on how to deal with these issues. Instead of approaching these issues with one stance, we should learn to adopt different stances to have a somewhat holistic solution as we solve current issues while keeping in line with human solidarity. This is important to me because we cannot solve issues while we remain divided and dogmatic. Rather, we must come together and be open to other beliefs. For these reasons, Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is my favorite book since it helps me have a more realistic view of reality and gives practical advice that supports solidarity.

The biggest problem facing the world right now is that mental health is not prioritized enough. Concerning the events that have occurred in the last few years, bad mental health severely affects us today. According to a study from KFF concerning the affects of the pandemic on mental health, 41 percent of adults reported to exhibit symptoms of anxiety and/or depression as of January 2021. Furthermore, substance use has risen by 13 percent as of June 2020. Lastly, burnout, mental distress, and suicide has been rising since. While it is important to take care of our physical health, it is equally important to take care of our mental health, especially during crises that require us to be extra cautious and isolate. As we have seen here, if we do not take care of our mental health, there can be dire consequences that prevent us from truly living a good life. What do we do to counteract this issue? There are several things we can do as we prioritize mental health with our overall health. First, we ought to provide classes that cover mental health and how to take care of ourselves. Education is important and making mental health part of curriculums can prove to have more positive outcomes for people involved. Second, we can start to make mental health less of a stigma and socially encourage people to attend therapy, even if there isn't an emergency. Last, it is important to speak truth to this issue. Only then can we start to address mental health issues and come up with more solutions that allow us to truly thrive psychologically.

If I was able to make a change in our education to make it better for future generations, I would approach the goal of education. In other words, I would change the goal of learning from survival and success to thriving and passion. Let me explain the distinctions here briefly. By survival and success, I mean learning for the sake of practicality in career and economic success. By thriving and passion, I mean learning for its own sake in terms of wonder and passion. Why do I propose a shift from the survival and success paradigm? The main reason is that there is an issue if we approach learning only because it is a means to an end. There is a time and a place for knowledge to be practical, especially for our basic survival. However, if we view education only as a means to an end such as economic success, we have a warped view of education itself and how it is employed. In how we view education, it is only a tool. nothing more. As for the methods of education, we will only employ them in superficial ways that fit the goals of success and survival. Furthermore, we will only look to the practical because it is efficient and necessary. Everything else is pushed to the side. This is problematic since education will be one-sided and some people learn in different ways that do not fit into the success paradigm. This brings me to why we need a shift into the thriving and passion paradigm for learning. Here, knowledge still has practical use. At the same time, there is a deeper dimension to knowledge that goes beyond what guarantees economic success. Rather, other dimensions are explored because they are simply fantastic and worth exploring for their own sake. Furthermore, people can thrive better educationally if they have the freedom to explore other dimensions with wonder and curiosity.

In my opinion, one of the best practical solutions for people who struggle with mental health is allowing them to have an outlet to talk about their struggles. Using myself as an example, I think this is a great solution for a few reasons. The first reason is connecting with other people. I know for me that I struggle with mental health because I feel lonely. But when I can talk about my struggles, I can connect with other people, even if this was not my intention to do so. Furthermore, other people have been more open about their struggles with me after I talk about mine. In this way, talking about struggles allows for more connection on both sides which helps with loneliness. The second reason is that sometimes people can work out a solution while telling their stories. When I am stuck in my head with my struggles, it is harder to think clearly. When I can talk to others, however, I can sometimes able to come up with a semblance of a solution either through a sudden idea that pops up in my head while talking out loud or from others' suggestions. In this way, talking to other people can help come up with solutions for struggles in mental health. The third and last is to get things off your chest. As I said before, I get stuck in my head and cannot think clearly when I struggle. However, talking to others gives assures me that there is someone who is there to listen so that I do not have to struggle alone. In this way, talking to other people can be helpful for emotional release. In sum, allowing people to talk about their struggles is one of the best and easiest for mental health struggles.

When I was ten years old, I was told by my neighbor that, "There is no such thing as failure, only a learning experience." At that time, I thought I understood what that had meant, but my understanding of that phrase has changed over the last few years. In the past, I thought this phrase meant that it is always possible to rationalize and come up with a lesson to justify any failure that I came across. Justifying any failure that was in my control is the emphasis here. I would not fully process and take any responsibility for any failure that was in my control which did not allow me to truly learn what lessons that I needed so that I can learn from them and move forward. Furthermore, I would take any failure that was not in my control and needlessly blame myself for it. Instead, I would be stuck with feeling sorry for myself and not realize that it was not in my control. In this way, I had a strange dichotomy in my understanding of this lesson that was taught to me as a child. A few years later, my understanding of this phrase began to change through education and awareness. I began to realize that failure is never a one-sided issue. In other words, failure sometimes requires things in my control and outside my control. From this realization, I began to look at failure differently. On the one hand, I realized that I could not rationalize all my failures to the point of justification. Rather, I had to accept that I failed at times. At the same time, I should try to learn where I went wrong so that I can fully process my failures. On the other hand, I also realized that I had to accept that there are things outside of my control, but I can control how I react to those things. In this way, I knew I could not merely feel sorry for myself when failure happens since not all failures are my fault. With this new understanding of this phrase, I have been able to move forward and become a better person. I am now able to take accountability for my faults and learn from them to able to move forward. On the other hand, I learned to not obsess over control, this is especially true for needlessly blaming myself.

In terms of applying creativity, I mostly use it by trying to fix issues in my life. Before I go into some specific examples, I will briefly say that I use creativity when I know past solutions will not help me with current issues. In this way, I have to think outside the box. Creativity helps me just that, practically speaking. One example of this was during the beginning of the pandemic when my studies transitioned online. I felt burnout from the transition and the format of my classes. I knew that the past methods that guaranteed my academic success in the past would not work in my new environment. So I thought of new ways to adapt to my new online setting. Thanks to my creativity and adaptability, I was able to adjust and thrive while taking online classes. In sum, creativity allows me to practically find new solutions to difficult issues.

My experience with mental health has shaped my life in significant ways as my stance on it has changed. At first, I was less aware of how mental health had affected my health until I was not mentally healthy. As I became more aware, I made some changes that positively impacted my mental health which has also positively impacted my life. As for my beliefs and understanding of the world, mental health was a significant factor in my life. When I was less aware of my mental health, I viewed the world in a pessimistic way and though that everyone was against me. I also did not see the point of life since I could not find meaning, In this way, I was a bitter person. However, my awareness of my mental health allowed me to make changes so that I learned to question those beliefs. As a result, I had a more realistic view of the world. I began to see that sometimes bad things happen for no specific reason and most people are not trying to be evil. Rather, people are sometimes mistaken or just unaware. I also began to see that even if meaning is hard to know, it does not mean there is no point in living. Rather, there is still joy in the little things. One does not need grand, metaphysical theories to have a reason to live. I think that is true for me as I try to get more out of the present moment while making long-term goals that will benefit me. As for my educational and career goals, I had no ambitions and just let things happen to me. This lead me to have a somewhat unfulfilling life. I was going to community college because that is what my family wanted but I had no major or direction. I was also complicit and let people choose for me in terms of where I went to school and what classes I needed to take. However, my changes in my mental health allowed me to have more goals and become more of an active person in terms of making decisions for myself. Now, I have the goal of graduating graduate school, finding work somewhere I can make a difference, and trying to act when I know what I want and need. As a result, I have some significant goals and have more autonomy due to the changes I made in my mental health. As for my relationships, I was at first a very solitary person who did not want to form relationships with other because I believed that people were out to get me due to my past. Even though this protected me in the short term, this was not sustainable for me in the long term. As I made changes in my mental health, I learned to trust people more and ask for help when I really needed it. As a result, I have more closer and deep relationships with people that I trust and help me become a better person while learning to discern the difference between 'good' people and toxic people. In sum, my experience with mental health has helped me make more positive changes in my life. Thanks to the changes, I have more realistic beliefs of the world, I have more aspirations, and I have closer and fulfilling relationships.

There are a few things that I do to have a more positive impact on the environment. First, I try to do what I can not to use disposable items. For example, instead of using water bottles, I try to use water canteens and Brita filters instead. Another example is how I store leftovers with Tupperware instead of disposable bags. Second, I try to educate people around me about climate change and how we can help the environment. While not all people agree with my stance, they are able to learn from me at least. Likewise I try to educate myself on environmental ethics and how to reduce waste. Third, I try to make use of any garbage that I have. Other than things that can spoil and smell up the place, I try to use my garbage for other things in my apartment. For example, on the rare occasions that I use water bottles, I try to reuse them as fly traps. Last, I turn off any electric thing that I am not currently using. For example, I turn off all lights in a room that I am not currently in. These are just a few ways I try to help have a more positive impact on the environment.

I think it is important to mentor people to be the best that they can be. Oftentimes, I feel like our education system works for certain types of students while others are not able to function due to factors such as learning disabilities or learning styles. With that being said, those students are still incredibly smart in their own ways. However, they are still underestimated because some cannot perform in the typical school setting. Because of this foundation, I hope to mentor others by bringing out their inner talents that allow them to fully thrive in their own induvial lives. People have various talents and abilities that are not being used. Someone once told me that everyone has talent, but it is rare for people to have consistent activity to improve those talents. My foundation for mentorship is to encourage others to be able to explore their inner talents and learn how to work to improve those abilities which will help them truly thrive in life.

There are two major reasons why a healthy lifestyle is important to me. The first reason is for me. I need to be healthy mentally and physically so that I can function in my daily life. Practically speaking, I try not to just do the bare minimum. I need to strive for the best quality that I can do and that I can make the best decisions to get to said quality. Because of this, I want to be able to be proud of my quality of work and be able to tell myself that I did my best. Alongside this, a healthy lifestyle affects my self-esteem and overall happiness. With a healthy lifestyle, I can view myself as capable to do anything and get through the toughest times. Lastly, living a healthy lifestyle helps me be more relaxed which greatly helps my satisfaction and happiness. The second reason is for other people. It is important for me to have a healthy lifestyle since it impacts my relationships. If I am feeling good, then I can do more good for others. It is really important to my values that I am able to help others. This is the reason why it is important that I am healthy. If I am not feeling good, then I cannot help others which means that I am not living up to my values. Because of this, I need to have a healthy lifestyle so that I am able to give everything that I can in my relationships and help others be happy too. In sum, a healthy lifestyle is important to me because I want to give my all into my work and help those around me to be happy.

If there is anyone who I admire from history, it would be Albert Camus. Other than his style of writing, there are two important reasons why I greatly admire him. I respect Camus because of his existentialist philosophy and for his approach to activism during the Algerian Revolution. Starting with his philosophy, Camus is addressing the issue of suicide that comes from the awareness that life is meaningless. While Camus concludes that life is absurd and it is not guaranteed that we can achieve our meaning in life, he states that we should always affirm life nonetheless. The reason for this is that we should accept that life is always absurd. I admire this philosophy since it states that we ought to continue to affirm life even if everything seems bleak and suffering becomes excessive. Here, we continue to live despite those factors for two reasons. We can rebel and not let suffering and meaningless win. Alongside this idea, we learn how to accept suffering and meaningless with a sense of happiness. The second reason why I admire Camus is because of his approach to human justice. He was most active during the Algerian War, where the Algerians wanted to separate from France's colonist rule which would cause division between Algerians and French alike. Instead of choosing one side, Camus emphasized solidarity and pacifism. He wanted to have both sides get together in solidarity while making sure that the Algerians had justice for the injustices of France's colonization. This is important for me since I think many of the issues in human rights (in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.) can be solved if we start from the foundation of solidarity. Only then, we can have less division while making sure there is justice for all.

I think some of my biggest academic challenges came up during the transition to online education due to the pandemic. I was tired and frustrated due to the fatigue and lack of connection between classmates and professors alike. Knowing the methods that made me succeed academically in the past did not work as well with this online transition, I made new changes. One change I made was on the issue of burnout from lack of direction by learning to pace myself. I did this by doing fewer assignments in the day, taking breaks, and celebrating little victories. This has helped mental health which also helped my overall academic and work quality. A second change was connecting with other people. I solved this issue by going out of my way by messaging classmates and asking for contact information. Here, I would often set up study groups via zoom which deepened my understanding of the class material and helped me connect with classmates. As for professors, I would email them a question just to connect and gain further insight on a certain issue in the class material, even if I knew the answer.

For me, recovery cannot be summarized as one idea. Instead, I think there are two important components to recovery, especially for addiction. The first is to move away from negative actions that prevent one from fully thriving. Even though I think of this as a surface-level action, I think it is important to realize what actions prevent one to live a good life. I think this is important, especially for one to proceed to the next component of recovery. The second thing that recovery means to me is the idea that we have to address the root problems that brought about problematic behavior. Here, I think it is just as important to examine what leads one to actions that negatively impacted their life, such as detrimental trauma. Otherwise, surface-level actions, such as abstinence, are temporary solutions to recovery. Rather, once the root issues are addressed, then one can retrace their steps and commit themselves to actions that improve their lives, especially for recovery.

One of my favorite discoveries in science is in quantum theory. The reason for this is that it challenges our assumptions about the world around us. Thanks to this discovery that the quantum world works differently from the physical world, we can start to approach the world differently. This is because we cannot use the same tools that we use in regular physics to know more about the quantum world. In this way, we can become more creative in how we attain knowledge. Again, this not only questions our current assumptions about the world but how we establish those assumptions. I favor this discovery for the reason that creativity is needed if we are to establish knowledge about the quantum world. In sum, the discovery of the mechanics in the quantum world makes us look back at our assumptions and how we attain knowledge so that we can become more creative in how we establish theory.