THE LEARNING + PROCESS
Growing up, I always had an interest in health and wellness. Whether it was through the nagging of my parents to become a doctor, the message of a Youtube video to exercise, or the steady growth of the plant in my bedroom, I often found ways to connect things to life and humanity. For this project, I knew that I wanted to create something that would revolve around that: humanity and life.
What is our purpose? What is our goal? How can we achieve it?
During long moments of sitting in silence, I wondered more about how I could bring all my passions into one project. I thought about, as I mentioned before, health, wellness, humanity, and life. But, I eventually reached other aspects of my life as well: my love for movies, learning, and teaching. I thought about my habit of dissecting every film I watch, and the energy and joy I get from tutoring children. All of these small memorable moments in my life led me to build the base of my essential question. As time passed by, I tweaked the question now and then, guiding it to the specific destinations that I wanted to reach. Eventually, my question ended up becoming, "How are health and wellness (intellectual, mental, emotional, and physical) portrayed in the media (television, cinema and social)?"
The first step was done, and I asked myself, "So, what now?" Like any other essay, presentation, and assignment, I planned it all out. I brainstormed main ideas, typed them down, and organized what I would research for a certain period. With each learning log came a new main idea. Some were about life satisfaction, defining health, defining wellness, and the different dimensions of wellness. I found that having a new topic to discuss each time made the research aspect of this project much more exciting and interesting.
The rest of the journey went on from there. I collected information, created learning logs, and planned out the next step. Researching was a straightforward task. But, at my sixth learning log, I reached a roadblock.
Although I am very passionate about my project, I still experienced a lot of difficulty in finding motivation, energy, and time to create it. I believe most of it had to do with finding a balance between this project and the other aspects of my life (such as my other academic responsibilities, extracurriculars, work, etc.) Then, with the change of my classes earlier in the year and an increase in workload, my life became busy. However, it is worth mentioning that despite going through these stresses and setbacks, I have managed to learn more about myself and my life.
If I were to give advice to someone with a similar goal to mine, I would say this...
Even if you plan your next steps, your next timings, or your next destination, things are bound to happen. It is inevitable. But when life hits and changes direction, you need to be able to change with it. Learning to adapt to the flow is essential because while life can be smooth sailing, it can also be a confusing and scary journey. You might find yourself losing motivation, pushing your limits, or even neglecting your health if you do not allow yourself to be flexible. However, once you learn how to adapt, you will also learn more about yourself in the process - your strengths, your ambitions, or your passions.
If I were to go back in time to change what I did, I would have thought about better ways I could adjust to my situation. I believe that something students my age have experienced is dwelling in negative thoughts, especially when it comes to procrastinating on tasks, homework, or even this project. However, once we get trapped in these negative thoughts, we become stagnant, and time just continues on without us. It can be even more difficult to accept things as they are and move forward. When faced with this problem, take the time to plan things out a bit more. Determine your goal, brainstorm different strategies, then start to take small steps, even when it feels like you are far behind. Doing something small is better than doing nothing at all.
Although I experienced many challenges throughout this journey, I managed to persevere. It was a challenging experience, and it definitely required time and effort. But, I hope that with every lesson I've learned from creating my Capstone, I'll be able to act more quickly and more efficiently when faced with the same kind of situation later on in life.