The subject, Personal Development, was extremely helpful for me. At first, I thought that this subject would be very laid back and that the topics were easy to understand. Which, in reality, was slightly true; however, I did not know then that it would also become a subject that opened my eyes to the personal issues that could later lead to social ones. Through this subject, I understood myself better. The way I acted was because of the personality I had, the way I deal with stress represents the many lessons learned in the past, and how I cope with my mental health stems from having years of experiencing "man vs self" conflicts. To put it simply, the subject taught me that we are all human and that this is our first time living on this Earth, hence why patience and respect are always a given when dealing with the hardships thrown at us.

My key takeaways were that it is okay to not be okay and that help is provided to those who ask for it. As someone who always wants to keep a calm, collected, and authoritative demeanor, it was interesting to see that it is okay to let down that mask sometimes. I’ve been the “mother” friend to almost everyone I know because I act with extra care and listen with an extra ounce of attention. But then, I realized that I have the right to say no to people whom I don't owe anything to, and that someone, one day, will see your true identity and state of being and love you completely, and those people who see that are worth keeping around.

My favorite topics would be social relationships (love) and emotional intelligence. I really liked the social relationships topic because I got to understand the relationships I have in my life better — how and why this is our dynamic with this person, or that this is the kind of love that I am experiencing. I also liked it because it talked about love. As someone who is a secret hopeless romantic, I really enjoyed listening to Ma’am Jo’s talks about her life, then aligning them to the lesson so that we are given a real-life situation to actually comprehend the topic better. I also really liked emotional intelligence because it opened my eyes to how maturely I’ve grown over the years. As a child, I was the crybaby; my cousins did not like it when I would try to play with them because if I lost, they would go deaf with all my crying. But now, through the hardships I’ve experienced and lessons learned, my emotions and level of maturity when responding to issues have really improved. To summarize, the Personal Development subject taught me a lot of things about myself and the community around me. With topics that allow me to open my eyes to the issues I face and how I deal with them daily, I have been able to understand why I react the way I do, and give me options to react to them better.