In the very beginning of the course, I'd like to think that I wasn't doing too well because there were some weakness that were shown through some of the assignments that required personal inquiry and writing. A major insight I noticed about the assignments and the lessons that we've done is that a lot of the writing assignments like rough drafts and journal entries were challenging aspects of the class for me and that reflects itself through the deducted points in my grade. Although majority of the small assignments are completed with full points awarded, it is large assignments like writing process, journal entries, reflections, prewriting, rough drafts, revised drafts, and final drafts where my grades start to dwindle. I'd like to think that for the most part, I have participated in majority of the lessons and submitted them on time with some undeniable deficiencies here and there. Out of all of the assignments throughout the course, I personally know that most of the effort that I put into the class are through the challenging writing assignments that require me to sit down and write. I struggle a lot with writer's anxiety to an extent that isn't normal, so I've faced multiple challenges having to face my fears and anxieties as I sit down to write what is on my mind and organize those thoughts through paper. I, unlike many individuals, have to exert a lot of mental energy and physically try to calm myself down before large writing assignments due to the huge lack of confidence that restricts me from writing. The challenge is then furthered when I have to convince myself that my thoughts are valid, and it is completely okay to make mistakes. I'd like to think that through my participation, I've contributed a lot of time and effort in attempting to get things done properly and with sheer details. I know that for small assignments that doesn't require much of a large answer, I try my best to provide as much feedback and reflection as I can to showcase that I do find value in some of the lessons that are being presented.
In terms of the writing process, it has been one roller coaster ride to properly right a paper because I've never been properly evaluated by a teacher until now. There were some challenges that I've faced especially with the organization because I have a bunch of ideas written down on paper but without a format to organize it to where it's comprehensive. This class required us to do an annotated bibliography, but it was specifically mandatory that the sources that we find are through our school's library and database. Although searching for what I want was extremely manageable with the school's database considering that our e-library is organized in a way where we could filter and limit the research to specifically find what we are looking for a lot easier. I know that by researching, I've learned the importance of using key words instead of using mutliple sentences to find my sources. It is a lot easier to navigate the kind of articles I'm looking for given that I utilize the proper key terms that are pertains the most to my topic of research. However, while utilizing key terms to easily find the articles, finding the appropriate key terms for my research was extremely difficult because it required for me to either be really specific or find an alternative term that is closely correlated to my topic. With our Advanced Search option, I know that we can list down three different key terms for different categories that we specifically want to find them from, and I highly appreicate that the e-library gives us an option of the kind of text we are looking for, the medium, and the time frame in which the research was published. The most challenging part about the research itself was finding the appropriate sources for my research because I know that I struggled a lot with trying to find the right source for what I am thinking of writing. Although our school's library has proven to be useful considering the modifications that were made to make articles easier to navigate, it was also incredibly difficult to find an expansive amount of resources for some topics beacuse the library still continues to lack a vast amount of research that can be found outside of our database. I especially struggled with this during the Blue Zones project because it was difficult to try and connect two entirely different research topics and tie it into my project and explain the significance of its correlation. There were multiple types of papers and different kinds of writing with different purposes and objectives that made it difficult for me to decipher the kind of information that I'm looking for, so the research portion of the project was definitely the most challenging aspect of the writing process due to how much that needs to be organized and the vast amount of information that needs to be evaluated for qualification in the paper. I know that for my writing, I struggled a lot with in-text citation and understanding how to properly cite things with APA because obviously, a lot of the sources vary in the amount of authors that were included, so it was a little bit overwhelming having to figure out how to properly cite in APA. I know one significant lesson i learned when it comes to the citation is the in-text citation where within the brackets, we put the author, the year, and the page number or paragraph. I believe that putting the page number and paragraph at the very end of an in-text ctitation was definitely a feature that I have yet familiarized myself with.
The number one reading I remember from one of our assignments was a reading about a japanese concept called "ikigai". I remember that it meant "your reason for being" which basically pertains to your life purpose and what brings you joy, happiness, and inspiration. Your reason for getting out of bed everyday. This was one of the first impactful lessons out of this class because the assignments made me reflect on the many things that happy, whether they are little or they are big. I remember this lesson specifically because I thought it was an interesting concept to think about when I continue to live my life. What is my motivation for going? What is my motivation for living? What is my purpose for being? This lesson about ikigai was a lesson that correlated to the Blue Zones because in the book, they studied centenarians in Okinawa who actually live by ikigai. To find happiness and a reason for being was one of the most significant lessons that left an impression on me in terms of what we've done because I thought it was a very peculiar thing to advise to younger generations who have yet to experience life enough to know their ikigai. I'd like to think that the Blue Zones has shifted my thinking by providing me a reason or a purpose, which is to find my own ikigai and surround myself with it for the rest of my life. After reading the Blue Zones, we were tasked to create a research project and pursue it ourselves. I live day by day doing unproductive activities like wasting my time scrolling on my phone all day knowing that I won't find anything interesting. I'm self-aware and self-conscious of the extents to which I rely on my social media to cope with my boredom and give me something to do to pass time, which is why I believe that there is a huge flaw to how I live my life. To me, my life has been so incredibly dull because in most cases, I don't do enough for myself to be able to enjoy my life and experience the happiness centenarians talk about. For my project, I chose to limit my social media usage in hopes of investing most of my time in finding leisure activities to enjoy and productive things to do. My project wasn't necessarily the most successful execution considering that my exhaustion from working all the time and my inability to get adequate rest heavily affected how my mood was during the day, but on the very minimal days when I did go out to do something fun, my mood was noticeably happier compared to days when I'm not doing much. After reading the Blue Zones, I realize that I don't put a lot of value and time to myself to be able to enjoy my own company and find things that are worthwhile. There are many activities that I would like to do like watching the sunset, going to the river, learning how to crochet, exploring new places with friends, and a vast amount of opportunities that I never take because I choose to sit at home and lock myself to my phone. Most centenarians live their life away from the media and technology and despite the lack of technology, they live their lives in fulfillment and satisfaction because everyday, they do something that they enjoy. I believe that further provides insights on the lifestyle of my generation and why it's been a lot more difficult to want to continue living for us compared to centenarians who properly experiences life for what it is.
It is part of the learning community to work on becoming empowered consumers of our own health. The way this class was structured was that we started off the class by understanding what a Blue Zone is and our personal narrative. Introducing the Blue Zone was a foreshadow to an upcoming important lesson closely related to the narrative lesson we began with, as well as studies about our health in terms of what we eat and consume on a daily basis. Throughout the course, as we read more about the Blue Zones and learn evaluate scientific research that supports living a positive consumer life, the class provides insight on important health information pertaining to our daily food choices and what we choose to focus on. Around the start of the course, the concept of "ikigai" was introduced, and through articles and lessons, we discerned what it meant and how it pertains to our life. Later on, this same lesson about ikigai reveals itself again through the Blue Zones. The class is clearly structured to introduce concepts/ideas and provide multiple sources of information to help us learn more and reflect the associations it has on our health and our choices. By critically reading and researching on several different subtopics to the Blue Zone, the learning community achieves the enablement to make better choices for ourselves as we engage in activities that encourages us to pursue the change we've been waiting on making. I believe that a large part that contributed to the achievement of the learning community goals was primarily our lesson on the Blue Zones as reported centenarians from all over the world advised better eating by introducing alternative foods, introduced a different perspective on life, and encouraged us to lean towards the natural world. Through the Blue Zones, the learning community has successfully made me feel more empowered with my choices and how I choose to live on for myself and how I choose to benefit my health.
I think in some ways, learning about the Blue Zones has been an insightful lesson for me because I learned of the many ways in which people live longer, and they were all very simple and peculiar lessons to me. What I primarily got out of my learning from the Blue Zones was to simply live my life content with what I have and be happy because that's what most centenarians needed to live longer. I'm only so young, and I'm barely starting to understand life and everything that comes with it. I'm at an age where I'm prone to stress because I am anxious of what is to come to the future and there's a really huge pressure on me to grow up and immediately adapt to the responsibilities of adulthood. College is a large part of that pressured experience because expectations are set that by getting a degree, I am asserted to find a job and start my life that way. Expectations causes limitations, so ever since I graduated high school, a large part of my life's focus significantly shifted from living at my own pace to catching up to others. Life has personally been overwhelming because of how much I've had to learn within the year I was first introduced to adulthood and because of that, it's inevitable that I've forgotten important lessons that centenarians try their best to get people to remember. As much as I am in denial of their advice to long life, there is an authenticity to how living happily and free of stress can prove beneficial for one's health. I know that for me, our lesson about "ikigai" was a very impactful lesson because not only did I learn about what it is as a concept, but it also encouraged me to look at myself and what I'm passionate in life while we wrote our narrative essays about it. Ikigai contains a lot of our values and what we love and what we think is worth and to reevaluate myself through this lesson, I learned and rediscovered aspects of myself that I've long forgotten about. Also learning about Japan's (specifically Okinawa) 80/20 rule provided a new perspective that I enjoyed to value as well because I personally never understood why it is highly encouraged to eat until one is "full" when we can eat until we are satisfied. Overall, what I highly enjoyed about this class was the self-reflection portions where the lesson requires us to ask ourselves questions we would never think to evaluate in ourselves. This class forced me to look at my lifestyle and how I live and understand that I am currently in a place in my life where it is difficult to be happy because I'm restricting myself from that happiness by not surrounding myself with it. There is so much to value in the Blue Zones lesson about life because to me, it was a treasure full of gold. I appreciated that there is a book that documented old folks who have lived long lives and their advice to younger people like me because it offers the opportunity to expand my own knowledge and wisdom.