Us 8th graders are approaching high school, not in a few months, but few days. And the transition to the new department brings excitement, tension, anxiety, and responsibility. Here’s how I plan to control stress while maintaining proficiency in academics.
I self-made a wellness vision pie chart, this shows the wellness aspects I am aiming to ensure. Starting from the carton of eggs to the right, this represents emotions: I am able to communicate my emotions in a positive way without being irritable, critical, or angry.
The next one is rest and play: I actively take advantage of opportunities to try new activities and ways to have fun.
The next one is school and work: I feel good about the way my school/volunteer/sports/job performance is helping me to build my future.
The next one is organization: I am happy with the way I organize my priorities, ensuring that I have enough time to dedicate to all the different aspects of my life.
The next is care for the body: Most days I get at least eight hours of sleep at normal sleeping hours.
The next one is healthy relationships: I am satisfied with the amount of time I spend with the important people in my life.
The next one is stress resilience: I am satisfied with the way I handle stress, handling it in healthy ways rather than engaging in self-destructive habits to cope.
The next one is spirituality: I forgive others and I forgive myself.
In my second WOOP Goal, I challenged myself to identify and act against unhealthy or fake relationships.
I have made significant progress, and I discovered that I’d mature more to give up or continue a relationship.
For example, I invited a friend to my birthday party, and for the birthday present, she brought gummies while my other friends brought handmade or authentic presents ranging from collectibles to paintings. At first, I thought it wasn’t anything, but I realized that the friend had been manipulating me as a fake friend, to tire me out to their benefit. Afterwards, I sent a few messages to the friend, discussing why I cannot be friends with them anymore. Furthermore, I deleted my chat with her and maintained a long distance from her.
My WOOP Goal taught me how to differentiate between a true and a fake friend (healthy/unhealthy) relationship. I realized that fake friends often show no interest in supporting you during your misfortune. And that brings the definition of a true friend to be consistent with supporting you, and mainly bringing happiness. I realized that the friend I had deleted was a fake friend due to their annoyed responses when I respectfully asked for help, and their participation in my birthday party significantly highlighted what type of person she is to me.
The reason why achieving the outcome of my WOOP goal can be obstructing is relating to the emotional connection to the prefrontal cortex, so that I can control myself when I communicated.
Now this WOOP Goal has also taught me that not every single human can be the best matching friend for me, and I have learnt a lot since setting this goal and working towards the outcome.
I’m going straight to the point, before I’ve thought that (no offense) mental disorder patients are crazy and a burden to society due to my incorrect exposure to insane asylums as a child. But as I grew up, I realized they weren’t a “burden”, and after this unit, my conception of mental disorders solidified.
The mental disorder that my group (Tiger, Yody, Brewster, and me) researched and presented is eating disorders. I’ve never known about eating disorders in this unit, unlike other disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders. But after this year, I have a complete understanding of the disorder.
Before crafting the slideshow, we started our research based on credible sources Ms. Miller provided.
Our thorough analysis using research papers
Researching the research questions was our first step to start us off on our project. We researched to understand inquiries like “What are the symptoms?”, “Celebrities or public figures who were diagnosed with the disorder?”, or “Is the disorder curable? If not, how can it be treated?” The research on these research questions took us a step closer to starting on our slideshow.
To provide a brief introduction to eating disorders, these are unusual addictions, patterns, or fears of consuming food. The three types of eating disorders have completely different symptoms.
Bulimia causes severe binge-eating, which intensifies the patient’s craving for food, and the patient cannot stop themselves from eating. Afterward, they feel guilty for all of the food they ate.
Anorexia is another disorder that relates to fear of getting overweight, which is why patients are underweight for their age and height due to limited food consumption to minimize their weight growth.
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder is similar to Anorexia but not entirely the same. This is considered as a new disorder, as it appears commonly in children, causing them to have a distaste for food or severe pickiness in their liking for food, causing poor nutrition and growth.
Our slideshow was made with Canva
Additionally, we also learnt about stigma. Which is defined as a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something. The negative stereotypes caused by false media portrayals impact patients adversely.
Overall this unit had been an eye-opening experience for me, as my classmates and myself learnt mental disorders and the truth about the misinterpretation about them
Happify is a mental health and well-being app designed to help users reduce stress, build resilience, and cultivate positive emotions through science-based activities and games. The app is made from research on positive psychology, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioral therapy, making it a beneficial app for anyone looking to improve their mental health. Its user-friendly interface and engaging features make it accessible to a wide audience. The interface is available for all levels of mindfulness, from beginners to professionals.
Predicted course of using Happify.
One of the features of Happify is its variety of activities and tracks tailored to different goals, such as coping with stress, building self-confidence, or improving relationships. Each track consists of activities, including games, guided meditations, gratitude exercises, and journaling prompts. These activities are designed to rewire negative thought patterns and promote positive thinking. The gamified approach keeps users motivated as they earn points and unlock new levels, making self-improvement feel rewarding (amygdala healthy triggers!) and fun. Every two weeks or so, Happify will have you complete a survey to check whether you are improving emotionally; this can also impact your track and activities.
One of the activities I completed in my track.
The homepage of Happify is clean and visually satisfying. Upon opening the app, users are welcomed with a dashboard that displays their progress, recommended activities, and daily reminders. The design is calming, with soft shades of orange and simple navigation, which aligns with the app’s mission to reduce stress and promote mindfulness. Users can easily access their current track, view completed activities, and explore new content, making it simple to stay on top of their mental health journey.
Happify works by guiding users through a series of evidence-based exercises that target specific areas of mental well-being. After signing up, users complete a brief assessment to identify their goals and challenges, and the app then recommends personalized tracks. Each track is structured like a program, with a set number of activities to complete over several weeks. The app also tracks progress, providing users with insights into their emotional growth and offering tips for maintaining positive habits. This structured approach ensures that users stay engaged and see tangible results over time.
In terms of usage, Happify is incredibly versatile. It can be used as a daily tool for mindfulness and stress relief or as a more intensive program for tackling specific mental health challenges. The activities are short and can be completed in just a few minutes, making it easy to incorporate into a busy schedule. Additionally, the app offers offline access to some features, allowing users to practice mindfulness or complete activities even without an internet connection. This flexibility makes it a nice choice for people with varying lifestyles and needs.
While Happify offers a free version with access to basic features, a premium subscription called “Happify Plus” unlocks the full range of tracks and activities. The subscription model may be a drawback for some users, but the investment is worthwhile for those committed to long-term mental health improvement. The app also frequently updates its content, ensuring that users always have fresh and relevant activities to engage with. Yet, there is a point of criticism as the price for the subscription is exorbitant; the price for a month is $15, and a lifetime subscription can cost up to $500. This causes a significant percentage of the users to not be able to afford this hefty price tag. Overall, the value provided by the premium features justifies the cost for many users.
Subscription options for Happify Plus.
My WOOP Goal.
My Wellness Compass Statement determines myself to: “When I have a problem, I take charge by creating a realistic plan and working to solve it.” At the inception, I was confident that Happify could take me to a suitable track for my realistic plan. But Happify disappointed me, as it took me to the Conquering Negative Thoughts track. Happify did not do the best job in locating a befitting course. But after researching the Happify tracks, I noticed one track that is more appropriate for my WOOP goal: “Fueling your Career Success”. This is because this can apply to solving long-term dilemmas. Planning for either success or an event would prevent a fiasco or disturbance from occurring.
Happify definitely shown futile to satisfactory attempts on cutting in new healthy habits to user’s lives. Happify recommends tips and other goals based on recent surveys or activity completion. Users wouldn’t say Happify improved emotional health. But there are significant signs of effective ways to combat stress using Happify. I even noticed a nice change in my behavior when a stressful assignment or event came up after using Happify. The application suggested natural yoga activities to complete in my track. The yoga level is entirely customizable to the user and is relieving to the body and brain health. Yoga helps us stretch our tendons and muscles, also supporting the brain due to an increase of gamma-aminobutyric acid. This helps us center in more on the real world, helps us calm down and meditate, and relieves stress factors.
Some cons in utilising Happify is the way the user interacts with Taylor (the AI chatbot that deals with determining your track or keeping up with the users). Users are forced to enter a fixed message when Taylor asks a question. The mini-games are also sometimes notoriously tedious and monotonous, having to press on slow-moving balloons that show a positive term to just staring at a placid nature background with no music or interactives for 5 minutes straight. The Happify community is also overly tedious, having no interesting conversation or active discussions; the community is a spot for progression.
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In conclusion, Happify is a well-designed and effective app for anyone looking to enhance their mental well-being. Its science-based approach, engaging activities, and user-friendly interface make it a standout choice in the crowded field of mental health apps. Despite its challenges, Happify is a great application to complete daily as a regular task. But the main question to Happify is: “Did I get happier using Happify?” And to be honest, the answer was no. Despite the great functions and nice design, the cons simply beat the pros. Staling itself as a mediocre wellness app.
This is an exceptionally odd year as it switches teachers midway, from Ms. Inna to Ms. Chainet.
I am also very proud of myself to be able to pass my DELF A2 Exam.
Artifact #1:
French Accident recording
This is a group project I completed with Matthew and Jonathan earned us a 4 because of our excellent chemistry and hilarious plot that involved a lot of unexpected twists. Our story was about me camping with Matthew in the snowy mountains, I fell down a cliff and injured myself while Matthew was hunting. After Matthew called the mountain ambulance, Jonathan arrived. But Jonathan gave me the wrong medicine. So he has to rush me to a hospital,
In Semester 1, we focused mostly on health (santé). In French, we learned about various body parts, injuries, illnesses, and other medical conditions and idioms. This one is a group project I did with Matthew and Jonathan. It was a choice project, where we could aim for an L3 or an L4. We chose the L4 option. After recording our written script, we achieved a 4 because our script had a descriptive and logical plot. I was able to do this because of consistent practice on platforms.
Lettre de Poilu
To add to the old and outdated setting the letter was written, I use a specific type of fancy calligraphy to immerse the setting to the reader further. In this letter, I am the French soldier writing to my dad (Sophie) about living in the trenches.
In Semester 2, we focused on World War 1, social studies was beneficial since it provided us with fundamental context on the Great War, but in French Class, of course, we are siding with France. Our final assignment is to partner up with someone and roleplaying as family/friends mailing to a French soldier (poilu) in WW1. I partnered with Sophie Lu. Part of the reason why I didn’t achieve a 4 is because of a lack of connection to Sophie’s letter. I’ve improved because we learned new grammar connections and vocabulary.
I wish that Ms. Inna could return to High School.
Overall, French has still been my favourite subject, and holding a well-organized party for Ms. Inna in the last class, represented our true appreciation for Ms. Inna’s efforts to us all in French.
So around at the start of March, we had our ratio unit ended with a fun activity to build a car out of recycled materials. So we decided to use hot glue, cardboard, razors, and cardboard knives. We named it “#Seagull”, while most other people are trying to make an F1, we made a… seagull, so when Mr. Brinn let us start our engines, we squawk 🤣.
In design tech, we made a cringe cardboard box with my classmates, we just used cardboard, marker for tracing cutting spots, hot glue, and a cardboard razor. First, we used a paper model of top and bottom of the box. Then we traced it onto a big piece of cardboard and carefully cut the traced lines, then we folded the triangular sides and hot glued the sides. Finally, we stacked the top and bottom part together. We were being very safe because we sat on our seats always and closed dangerous tools wen we are not using it. I have learnt about making a sturdy structure by not just using 6 cardboard squares and combine them to a cube. Instead, make sides that use less hot glue and sturdier.
