Celina Lin, 1/11/2021, PD 8, Day C

Celina Lin

Period 8

01/11/2021 Day C Modern Mythology 2021 At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why? The biggest goal I have for myself is self-care because of everything that is going around, I have neglected many things especially myself. Mostly because of work on weekends, I barely have time to accomplish schoolwork. Trying to attempt to finish up work and be productive on the way home is not enough. When it comes to trying to balance between work and school, it always leaves me in a state of hopelessness. I never know exactly what I should do. Sometimes, I tell myself that I should just quit and utilize the weekends like a typical high school student would. But, there are other times where I genuinely enjoy the experience and the learning that I gain from my work so much that I would not want to quit the job. These opposing thoughts have resulted in an accumulation of stress. I want to stop pulling all-nighters and get a good night’s rest. Although my friends are always insisting that I should take a break and just forget about everything momentarily, it’s just so difficult. I don’t simply want to complete schoolwork, but I want to do extra things. But as of now, being unable to spare some free time for myself, it’s hard for me to invest time in other extracurricular activities. So, self care is definitely something that I have prioritized right now and I will try to work towards that goal. How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)

There are times where I would get really frustrated with myself for being unable to accomplish schoolwork at a given time that I’ve set for myself. When that usually happens, I would say that hopping on social media would account for the time lost to being productive. Occasionally, I would get distracted by a notification bell and instinctively, I would reach for my phone and check for new updates or messages. This has been a habit because I usually have my phone next to me while I do homework or study. But, I have been trying to change that. I have tried to delete social media off of my phone because I wanted to experience how it’s like to be free from all those notifications. I can say that it was actually a good decision because although I was tempted to download these apps again, I could actually invest time into doing work. I would also turn my phone onto airplane mode so I wouldn’t receive any new notifications. I hope that through minimizing distractions, I could utilize my time appropriately. How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)

I think that especially during a time like right now, a lot more people are doing things remotely. This gives people more opportunities and time to cherish family time and accomplish more things. But at the same time, everybody just seems so productive and knows the exact direction that they are heading in. By that, I mean everyone is using that time efficiently. I think that this puts more pressure on me because there are times where I think to myself, “ Do I really have to do this?” But yes, I have put effort into doing things because it doesn’t benefit anyone else but myself. Also, I think this applies to a majority of high school students but there is ongoing pressure with getting admitted to a “good” university. Even though college applications are done, I feel as if I am still in the process of doing it. That’s because my parents are constantly asking me about that and mentioning zoom meetings from certain universities. Especially recently, a lot of the conversations that I hold my parents all revolve around colleges. I want to try to de-stress by talking about what happened at work or school with my parents, but it somehow winds back to talking about colleges. I can't help but feel burdened. I have constant thoughts about the fact that I must get into a good university so my parents would be pleased.