This day was the birth of my little brother, Jayden. He was born 5 years after me and is a key member of our family.

The birth of my younger brother is significant to me as it added a new family member to my life. I learned how to take care of others and be responsible. In addition, the birth of my little brother also gave me an additional person to reside with and feel comfortable with. I could have another person to share my life with and be together with as we have a deep bond and companionship.

This event was when I started to learn how to swim. Swimming was the first sport I have ever learned and this early entry into the sport paved the way for my love of swimming.

Swimming is an important sport for me. I started to learn swimming at the age of 4. Learning to swim paved the way for many of my future opportunities and experiences. Swimming was the first sport I had ever learned and is the only sport I am actively involved in today. By going to swimming lessons, I found my love for swimming. Also, swimming created many opportunities for me like becoming a swim instructor and joining the swim team. For example, my job as a swim instructor was my first part-time job. It has helped hone my communication and leadership skills, giving me a place to practice and showcase this ability in society.

This event was when I travelled to China for the first time with my family.

During this time, I met many of my relatives for the first time in my life. I felt more connected to my loved ones and explored areas that connected with my cultural heritage. I visited many interesting provinces, like Beijing and Shenzhen, with my family.

This event was when I went to Disney Land with my family. This was my first trip abroad, and I had an amazing time. 

The trip was significant to me as this was my first trip outside of Canada. I was finally able to see the outside world. It was also a great experience as I saw so many of my favourite Disney characters in person. This was a big part of my childhood and made me very excited as a child.

This event was when I started going to school for the first time. Through attending school I learned the ways of society for the first time and interacted with other kids my age.

With this experience, I was able to make many new friends and learn to socialize with others. Attending school was the first step in broadening my social life, and it taught me important social skills.

This event was when a close relative in my family abruptly passed away. This event is important to me as I was close to that family member and was devastated. This was the first instance in a long time that I experienced this and I was shocked about how I should process the news and carry on with my life.

My resilience strategy was to allow myself to grieve. I also learned to express my feelings through different activities to clear my mind. For example, I would go for a walk around the neighborhood or go for a swim. From this event, I learned that many events in life are inevitable, but what is important is to learn how to persevere through them by clearing your mind with activities that improve your mood.

This event was when I moved schools after my family moved to a new neighbourhood. This was an important event for me as I was put into a whole new environment with people I did not know. I had to leave all my friends behind and leave my familiar home I grew up in. Making new friends was hard and adapting to the school and new neighborhood was also difficult. It was a difficult situation for me.

The resilience strategy I used was to make new relationships and stay open to friendships with my classmates. I learned how to be more sociable and gained communication skills by openly sharing my thoughts and ideas with others. I also joined more clubs and social activities to get to know more people in my school.

This event occurred in elementary school and was the first time I did poorly in a class and got a bad grade. Although it was only a grade in a single project, it felt very important to me. This event made me feel upset and disappointed in myself as I expected better from myself.

The resilience strategy I used was to implement a growth mindset. I told myself that it was normal to make mistakes as long as I learned from them. I learned that failure was just the beginning of the learning journey. This taught me to embrace my mistakes, and instead of worrying about the result, I should focus on what went wrong to prevent similar instances in the future.

This event was when I first entered middle school and was overwhelmed by the strenuous work environment. The new addition in workload and new school environment made me stressed and unsure of what to do.

The resilience strategy I used to handle my stress was to break down my workload and set healthy goals. I learned to break down all my work into sections I could handle so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed. In addition, I learned time management skills. I managed my time carefully by prioritizing certain more important tasks. This allowed me to be more organized and less stressed in school.

This event was when my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. This was a difficult time for me and my family as it felt like our world was instantly shattered. I was close to my grandmother and the news made me feel scared for the future. I was anxious and unsure of what to do.

The resilience strategy I used to deal with my anxiety was taking periods to focus on not only my family but also myself. I spent less time focused on outside activities and more with my grandmother, making the most of our time together. At the same time, I also did more mindful activities like reading quietly and breathing exercises alone to care for my anxiety. In the end, these strategies proved useful and my grandmother was also cured of cancer.