Dr. Ellis
ENG-101
8 April 2020
Blog Post
As I continue my new lifestyle in quarantine I have started to pick up new habits. These habits are ones I consider to be beneficial for my well-being and have made me challenge the person I was before. It has been a tough adjustment going from constant social interaction to just seeing immediate family 24/7. So I have decided that I can either dwell on the negatives of this situation or I can realize that it is an opportunity to self-serve and focus on my mental and physical health. I loved every minute of my service learning at the Bridges Program and I hope I taught the students there a thing or two, but two kinds of growth can come from service to others, and service to yourself. This quarantine has given me the time and comfort that I did not have back at school, and as hard as it is sometimes I feel better when I have the opportunity to just stay home. I do not have to feel the guilt of declining plans or feel the pressure to be doing something extravagant with my time. I have my whole life ahead of me and this may be the only socially acceptable time to focus on just me. Sometimes life can be so crazy when it comes to putting others before yourself and constantly moving around that you forget what it’s like to just live for yourself and do the little things that you enjoy. One thing I picked up recently that I had a hard time finding time or motivation for is working out. I find myself happier and having a clearer mind after I work out. I sleep better and feel better about myself. After watching the video on Kara Jackson’s poem it opened my thoughts up about myself and how I view myself as a woman. She talks about the struggles she as an African American woman faces. I will never understand those struggles or what she goes through daily. I can as a woman understand the challenges that come with social media and the certain “look” that one wants to achieve after scrolling through their Instagram feed. Particularly the lines “Americans love excess but we also love jeans and refuse to make excess comfortable in them”, spoke to me when I think about these challenges. As I spend my time in quarantine trying to see the positives it can be hard when I see things on social media (which I have more time for) of what is “beautiful”. With this being said, I took Kara’s words and realized that although these struggles of inner beauty exist, they do not define me. I am happy with myself and the way I look, even if sometimes I wish to look a different way after seeing a picture. It is up to me to see the good in life and take care of myself the way I have been with physical activity and eating healthy. Putting these two together with healthy thoughts ultimately makes a great mindset for what we are all going through. In life you face many challenges, as an African American woman, Kara faces many more than I will ever have to. She takes these challenges and uses her poetry and her voice to march through and accept whatever may come her way with gratitude. I admire this thought process and hope that my time spent bettering myself over the next few weeks will lead me to a powerful mindset like hers.
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