Learning Challenge: OU Mental Health - Week 9

This week for my learning challenge I focused on Health/Happiness.   I watched a few of Health and Happiness Videos.

Image From Youtube Video

There are points in everybody's life were things get hard.  Life is full of challenges and not everything goes right all the time.  Seeing some of these people's struggles makes me realize that no matter how bad things get, somebody always has it worth.

Cooper Lund on the weight of depression, ending mental illness stigma.
I feel for this person.  Sadness sucks, and depression sucks even worth.  I would just want to tell this person to hang in there, and it gets better. A remember seeing a whole campaign to fight depression and suicide thought called "It gets better."


OU Student on Mental Health: Ivey Dyson talking about Anxiety.
I definitely don't feel anxiety to the point Ivey does, so there is no true way to empathize.  I feel like comparing my daily anxiety to hers would cheapen what she has gone though.  I cannot understand or say I know what she's been through because it's not something I have experienced to this degree.  I am glad that she was comfortable enough to go publish with this and promote awareness for others so they know they are not alone.

Learning Challenge: Reading: love it or hate it? - Week 7

Buch : German word for Book, Image taken in a German 'Book Cafe'

When I was in elementary school I hated reading. I only ever read what was assigned to me.  Audio books are what got me hooked onto stories.  I would check them out from the library and listen to them starting in late elementary school.  It was the Golden Compass from Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' story that really got me hooked.  There are still plenty of stories that I don't enjoy, but when I find the right book I really enjoy reading (reading stories or listening to them, I enjoy both).  During school it's hard to find the time, but I often read for about 30 minutes before I go to bed and it will help me relax before going to bed.

If I were a teacher, I would let students brainstorm a variety of topics they were interested in, and try to help them find books that matched these topics.  This way they would start to associate reading with things they love, instead of things they hate or are bored by. 

Learning Challenge: Find a favorite empathy meme - Week 6

Being Wierd

Everybody is a little weird, some more than others.  I could immediately relate to this post, and I guess that's part of what empathy is really about. You just have to find friends in life who are the same type of weird that you are.

Learning Challenge: Find a favorite health/happiness meme - Week 5

Cartoon by John Atkinson

This was the first image on the page, and I was able to relate to it immediately.  I did scroll through all of the Health/Happiness memes to see if there was one I liked better, but there wasn't.

I will often stay up to late, and use coffee in the mornings.  I rarely used to drink coffee, but they have free coffee at the office where I work, which got me into the habit of drinking it almost every morning.

Learning Challenge: Find a favorite attention meme - Week 4

Art by Kamil Kotarba

As much as I love technology and what it has done for the world, it really hurts attention.  Technology is a resource, it's a great way to share thoughts, to communicate quickly, to look up facts, to find directions on a map and many more things.  But I think some people become to dependent on technology, let it be part of every aspect of their life.  It's scary when somebody cannot go 10 minutes without their phone without feeling naked.  We should use technology, and not let it control us. Our attention and awareness will improve if we take the time to exist in this word, instead of existing only in a virtual one.

Learning Challenge: Find a favorite reading meme - Week 3

Last week I found a meme on Time, this week I am looking at different images about reading.  This will be part 2 in a five week series, were I chose a meme for each of the five letters for HEART.  I really enjoy the memes, and this is a good way for me to focus on not one, but all five different aspects of the learning challenge.  

Reading is Dangerous

This image was very cute! It's true that these are all different ways people talk about reading.  My favorite type of reading is reading for pleasure, unfortunately, that ones doesn't sound dangerous and didn't make the list.

Learning Challenge: Find a favorite time meme - Week 2

Laura Gibbs - Procrastination Flowchart

I saw this image an immediately had to laugh!  Short, sweet, simple.  There is only one path, doing something right now is never an option for procrastination.  This gave me an idea for a flow chart which I might try to create myself, many different forking paths that all lead to the same result, procrastination.  People can find a million reasons to push something off.  The real challenge, is making the time to do something right now.  Time is important, and although I do value my time, not all of my action show this. 

Learning Challenges: HEART

The two videos, The Time You Have (In JellyBeans) and Museum of Procrastination both reminded me of a third video by Gary Turk that became viral on YouTube. 

I understand that this video has a slightly different meaning, however when the Jelly Been video was mentioning how many days the average person spends watching TV and Netflix.  I think these videos deal with more than procrastination, they deal with being present and aware during your life.

H.E.A.R.T.

Healthy/Happy: Mental health and happiness is the most important part of my life.  If I do not enjoy life and the things that I do, what is really the point?  Although everybody has to deal with things they don't enjoy, happiness should be a priority in everybody's life, and a priority in everything they do.

Empathy: This is a very important trait during all interactions with other people. Whether we are dealing with classmates or teachers or friends, everybody is different, so we have to have patience.

Attention: The age of technology has lowered the average attention span.  Even as a computer science major who lives in technology, I think it's very important to spend time away from computer, and fully focus on something without the constant buzzing of a phone or notifications.

Reading: I do not make as much time in my life for reading as I used to.  It would be nice to be able to find the time in college to once again read for pleasure.

Time: Time management is the trait of HEART that I need to work the most on.  Although I always manage to get things finished, it's not healthy to stay up until 3 or 4 AM after procrastinating on a project.

Photo By Dan Regan