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I think writing is a powerful process folks can utilize to begin to understand themselves in a deeper way. Having the chance to slow down, put thoughts on paper and navigate those feelings through reflection can really help us make sense of who we are.

I really identify with Jose because I also felt similarly around the complexity of my cultural identity growing up. Many of my cousins would joke about my spanglish when we were growing up and I was constantly called the "pocha" of the family. In contrast, I was so proud of being mexican so I sought out more and more ways to express that like through music and dance. I played Mariachi for around 10 years and when I sang no one could tell that Spanish was my second language. When I sang, for those 3 minutes everyone would see me the way I see me. I think music allowed me to not only connect with my culture but also helped me develop the pride and appreciation I felt for the person I was.

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I feel that writing gives you a gateway to fully express you self without feeling any sort of fear or judgement when having to speak to someone .

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I feel writing can help express who we are because it helps put what we are feeling on paper. It brings it to life and lets others be able to see and relate to the words they are reading.

I express myself by talking with my friends and family. I found that talking out loud and getting all my feelings and emotions out in the open helped me understand myself more. Keeping my thoughts to myself made me feel alone, but talking with people about our shared experiences comforted me.

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I think that writing can help us understand who we are by allowing us to get all of our thoughts out on something that is tangible and able to be seen and interpreted by anyone. writing gives us an opportunity to sort through our thoughts in a way that is more cohesive and easy to understand.

in the past, writing has helped me overcome many mental health issues i have encountered. journaling and simply writing down my thoughts and working through them helped me to overcome some of the most difficult things of my life.

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Writing can be a very relaxing process that can help us express our feelings without having to verbalize them. Sometimes with deeper emotions, we can be too timid to speak them out loud which is where writing them out can come into play. Personally, I use music to be able to self-identify and express my emotions. I grew up playing instruments and singing and this was an environment where I really felt I could be myself. Even now, I am able to feel my emotions and understand them by choosing a song to listen to that I think resonates with what I’m feeling in that moment.

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writing can be such an expressive way of showing who you are as an individual. but there are many creative platforms on where you can show who you are and what you like in art forms such as photography, dancing, singing music ect. A form of expression i really have been enjoying recently is probably photography. i really love how a photo is able to tell a story with just a picture. a picture can portray feelings, a plot, and a sense of relatability.

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Writing can help us understand who we are because we can be our true and authentic selves in our writing. We can explore various topics and write in different ways whether it is writing personally, to an audience, in a book or truly any form. Writing has helped me process complex feelings in ways like journaling and writing my thoughts out. I enjoy being able to organize my thoughts on a page and let anything out and be able to go back at any time to see what I was feeling and relate back to it. In our writing we can open up and let our feelings out and it is a great way to express ourselves.

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I think humans have so many thoughts throughout their days. Writing is a way to collect all of those thoughts and put them together in a beautiful way. When I am trying to figure out something about myself or my life, I usually write down my thoughts to make them make more sense to me. It also is a way to relieve stress.

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Writing helps us express who we really by putting our thoughts into words. Sometimes it can be hard to verbally express yourself, and writing is helpful to say what you want to say without actually having to say it. Writing is also a form of expression that helps me process feelings or complex thoughts. Sometimes I don’t know how I’m feeling, so writing down my exact thoughts helps me process.

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I think writing can help us understand who we are and what we are feeling because we are able to write down whatever we feel and it can be easier to write down our thoughts since we tend not to express them but instead bury them inside. It’s a great way to say whatever is on our mind and we can look at what we are writing.

I relate to Jose because as a Hispanic student, it’s always confusing to grow up and have a complicated perspective about who you are. There would be times that I wouldn’t be allowed to speak spanish because my educators wanted to emphasize that we need to learn English. This left me thinking that I wasn’t allowed to express my culture. A way I began expressing my culture is the similarities I found with my peers with their favorite foods and how most of us would play spanish music like Selena, banda, etc.

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I think that writing helps me organize my thoughts in a more linear way and understand them better. While all the thoughts in my brain may be jumbled and chaotic, writing them out helps me to see each individual thought/feeling and take them in one by one. It’s like a mental agenda: listing all the things you have going on, going through them one by one, before reflecting on them as a whole with a new understanding.

I’ve also found that surfing or just going to the beach is a great form of expression for myself. I love how unplugged I feel from the universe, just floating out in the water, alone with my thoughts. I can think about how I’m feeling or distract myself by catching a wave before restarting the whole cycle. That sense of peace, quiet and isolation is extremely freeing for me and the time I have to think helps me express myself.

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Writing can help us understand who we really are because sometimes our minds get clouded and overloaded with a lot of different ideas, thoughts, and emotions. Writing helps you to break all of those thoughts and emotions down on paper. I personally feel so much better when I write down a lot of the stuff I'm thinking or when I feel overwhelmed about a certain situation. I write down an action plan or my feelings and after I end up feeling lighter and like I have things in order again.

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Writing is an essential way for those to express their feelings. I’ve seen people around me who aren’t comfortable enough to share their true feelings with others who turned to writing to truly express themselves. This helps so that they still express themselves without the uncomfortability of being judged. I chose to express myself by communicating with those I am most closest to which would be my family. Whether if it’s through a text message or FaceTime , my family is the only people that I really trust with my feelings and emotions. Another way I use to express myself is through music. I listen to almost every genre of music so the wide variety has helped me through rough times that I have endured.

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I think that writing can help people understand who they are by giving them the space to write what they truly feel; it can also give people a chance to connect with a community where they feel comfortable and seen.

I feel like music has been the best way for me to express myself, whether it's listening to or playing music. I used to play the piano for a few years when I was younger, but then stopped when I got into the middle school. From the start of middle school until the end of high school, I played the french horn in my schools band. Playing music helped me escape from the stress of school and life and had me focus on what I was doing and how I was playing. Although I don't play anymore, I still look towards music as a way to connect with my thoughts and feelings.

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I feel like writing gives someone an opportunity to share their unique story and how they came to be. It allows for freedom of expression and possibly having an impact on the lives of others who read your story, those who are too scared to share their own experience. I relate to Jose Olivarez’s story because growing up I was always confused with either identifying myself as Mexican or American. Growing up in San Diego and Tijuana, I was always seen as too American for my friends in Tijuana but too Mexican for my friends in San Diego. Going through an identity crisis at such a young age is traumatizing since everyone is just trying to fit it with a group they feel welcome to. Fortunately, I have found people who do not discriminate me for identifying with both cultures.

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I believe writing can be a helpful tool to practice self care and reflection. When there’s a lot of thoughts floating around in your mind there’s room for obsession and overthinking. Being able to put everything out there in pen or pencil and just sit with your thoughts is a therapeutic processes.

I personally find myself just free writing when I get overwhelmed and I feel relief when I can crumple up that sheet of paper at the end knowing all of my thoughts and feelings are out there. I also love dancing and being able to put my all into something both physical but empowering. Sometimes it’s happy songs to distract my mind or sometimes it’s harsher meant to reflect my current mood. But being able to express my emotions and let my body feel the effects of the hard work and time has done a lot for me.

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Writing is a way for us to put down on paper how we are feeling and what we are thinking. Through writing our feelings and thoughts, we begin to understand who we are. I grew up doing a lot of art, especially painting. Painting is a medium where it is easy for others to look at your work and kind of understand a bit of what you like, what you enjoy, what you are feeling, etc. Whenever I feel overwhelmed with emotion or anxiety, I like to paint on canvas, letting myself calm down. This process makes me feel like I’m being ‘me’ again.

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Writing can be a powerful tool for people to express themselves. I know some people struggle to communicate and find it easy to write their feelings. One of the ways I enjoy expressing myself is througg art.

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I like to express my self through dance, drawing and poems as these allow me to express my feelings. I also do facial expression as it helps to convey my feeling since I do not like to talk about my feelings alot.

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writing can help us understand who we are by letting us express ourselves when we can't express ourselves out loud. More comforting to write pen on paper and sit with our thoughts.

Writing has helped me express myself by sitting with my emotions more and as I write them out I start to understand what made me feel this emotion and how I got there. Writing has helped me lay out right in front of my own eyes what is going on in my brain and dissect how I am feeling. Writing in a way has been therapeutic when I could not open up about how I was feeling.

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I personally relate to Jose Olivarez, I feel like I don’t really have a home. One way that helped me express myself is by dancing. Dancing has been something that has opened doors to me and let me express how I feel. I get to share a little piece of my roots and share it with other cultures as well. Dancing has been something that makes me feel safe around others doing what I am passionate about. I am happy I am able to share my background with others.

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Writing can help us understand who we are by we write what we think and all our thoughts into paper. Writing down our thoughts gives us the chance to brainstorm what we want to share on paper.

Writing has helped me on my own identity by creating a list of all my favorite things to do or what I believe describes me as a person. There has been a few times where I couldn’t express myself verbally to a person because of a complicated situation there was at the time but, with writing down my thoughts to express my thoughts at the time helped me a lot better.

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Writing can help you express how you truly feel and it can help other understand how you feel. It a great way to understand your own feelings as well, without causing harm. Writing can help you feel understood and with that you can find others who feel that same as you. Your learn to express yourself in a positive way with can help you mentally as well. Its like having someone to talk to and they will never judge you.

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Writing has helped me throughout the years when it comes to dealing with stress, school, and how I am able to express myself. I feel like it’s an effective method to be able to learn and understand your identity if you can’t verbally. Many authors and individuals have been able to express their feelings and emotions through writing for the sole purpose of helping others understand themselves and show them that they’re not alone in whatever they are dealing with at the moment. A good example is reading a book about empowering women at such a young age so that I could be more aware of who I am and that I have a purpose in life. Writing is also very therapeutic in my opinion when you need to get any thoughts out and it makes you feel better or relieved. I like to journal because releasing my emotions on paper can help me feel more positive if I’m stressed and I can look back at it and see what progress I made or simply getting into the right headspace works for me.

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Writing can help us put into words our thoughts or feelings that we might not have anyone to share with or that we are too scared to share. Journaling helps me better express and reflect on how I'm feeling, and even if they're not good feelings, it's better to get them out onto paper or a journaling app then too let them stay inside with no outlet. Listening to music has also helped me discover and process parts of my identity that I didn't know about before, as sometimes I don't know how to fully describe what I'm experiencing until I hear something similar in lyrics.

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When I was younger I loved to write. I wrote stories and drew illustrations because I loved being creative and making things. Writing was definitely considered my favorite hobby.

However, as I got older, my passion for writing slowly faded because I only associated it with essays for school and tedious assignments that I needed to complete for a grade. I couldn’t have free will of what I wrote and how.

It was until I reached my late teens where I found this passion for writing again. Now, I use writing to wind down after a long day, rant about random things, and use it to fuel my urge for creativity.

Being able to freely express myself and not having to worry about grammar or following a rubric really helped me be aware of who I really am. Writing out what I want in life, my emotions (big or small), what worries me, and how I will solve out my problems, made me realize parts of my personality that I never would of have discovered.

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Writing is something that allows us to connect with ourselves and others. Music is something that has helped me express myself when I didn’t know how to put what I was feeling into words. It has also helped me connect with my two cultures. Listening to songs in Spanish allows me to connect and express the Mexican side in me while listening to songs in English allows me to express the American side in me. Being a Mexican American who doesn’t “look Mexican” it was hard growing up to show others that I was Mexican enough. Music definitely helped me learn Spanish and express that side of myself.

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Putting our feelings on paper can give us more clarity and also allow all the feelings to be brought out naturally. Once we start writing, there is a natural flow that happens and it can be so therapeutic. Sometimes it is hard to express our feelings verbally and it’s difficult to say the words out loud. I think writing is so beneficial for everyone feeling emotional and can heal.

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Writing can help us understand who we are because it can allow for us to reflect on words/experiences we might not have known we were also feeling or have experienced and it gives you an opportunity to relate and appreciate a shared experience providing one with a sense of belonging & acknowledgment of feelings.

A way that I like to express myself is through my choice of music. I relates to the story that we heard. For my family in Mexico, I am not Mexican enough but when in environments such as school, I am not American enough. However, I listen to a lot of artists that sing in both languages . For example, Kali Uchis, Omar Apollo, the Marias, & Cuco to name a few, are artists that take pride in the multiple identities that they have and they use it to their power in their songs. When I sing their songs or listen to them I am heard by those artists, their fans, & myself for who I am and my multiple identities. To them, I am not any less & that is why I listen to them.

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Writing helps us understand how we portray with others. We can process our feelings since we literally see who we are on paper or what we typed. For instance, it tells me that I need to communicate my ideas to other since I struggle with it. Other methods that I can associate is through listening to music with doing something that I enjoy doing or something that will help me get things out of my mind. Music like rock in Spanish, pop. And based on the music, it tells the type of mood I am.

Sports can calm down my energy and can make me feel more relax in the scene of not overthinking situations or to focus on what I can do. Eating helps me reach a level of comfort, I've found that when someone has eaten well, that they are in a calmer state than someone who is hangry and doesn't know how to control heir emotions.

Speaking my language from back home helps me express the inside of my mind that I would say in other languages(English). Through this, I help myself to be more comfortable and that I feel safe in my own skin.

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Writing will help us understand who we are because we are able to share our thoughts and feelings. With this we can build a community and get closer to people who are going through similar things. If we choose not to publish, writing will also help us be more aware of our own emotions and help express ourselves instead of keeping it locked inside. Both ways will help us know our own thoughts and feelings since we have too many to keep track of. This leads to us finding out who we are and what we aspire to be.

Writing has helped me better understand my feelings and know what to do next time I struggle with them. If I am feeling something in the moment I will write it down and then check it again later. I will see what caused it or why I was feeling that way. It has also helped me see that I wasn’t happy with my previous major and helped me choose teaching instead, which I am happy I did.

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I think writing is a great way to express yourself because you can be as open, vulnerable, and honest with your words as you want. I also think it allows you to gain full clarity on what exactly it is that your experiencing and help you release any emotions that are present. This is how i best express myself because i don’t have to worry about it making sense to anybody else but myself. I think for me it also helps me gain a different perspective on how and why I was feeling that way because I feel that sometimes you don’t understand just by thinking it but when writing you make the connections. For me this is something that I struggle with because like Jose I also am mexican american and i’m also the oldest daughter so i have many struggles that I feel no one else will understand but I do and allows me to feel better and release those struggles and stressors

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Writing allows us to organize our thoughts and feelings. If we are going through hard times we can write them down in order to make our feelings a tangible thing. It helps us in the future, when we want to reflect on a time where we felt the same. We can see that we have gotten past the hard times and we can do it again. Writing can serve as a reminder.

Im an “artist” so i express my feelings and thoughts through my art. I tend to feel this insatiable desire to create whenever I am going through a hard time. By creating art based on my turmoil I can cleanse my body of these negative emotions while at the same time creating a reminder for future reference. I can express what I think of as inexpressible by creating art that I feel visualizes my feeling accurately.

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Writing can help us understand who we are because it allows for a deep reflective process. It provides me with a space where I can feel free to put down the ideas, emotions, and experiences that make up my story. Writing allows me to articulate myself in a way that wouldn't be the same in a conversation.

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Writing is something that I love to do. It helps me organize my thoughts and helps me get my point across. It is also how I connect with other people because of my love of reading. Without authors writing and publishing their books, there would be some friends I would've never had

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For me, writing helps me to process my emotions before I act on them. If I am ever going through a hard to understand period, I find that writing in my journal helps me to put things into perspective. Being able to see my thoughts and re-read them to learn about myself and what I need to do to work through whatever I am going through.