If you notice your loved ones are not in the best mood, give them a hug. This can offer them great consolation knowing someone detected their change in emotions.

Therapy is a private space where a patient talks about his or her problems to the therapist. The therapist helps develop a plan to help solve their problems and to improve their life. I was inspired to draw this because I know that talking about your problems to someone will help you.

Honestly, my psych final exam on dissociative identity disorder is what really inspired me to draw this image. When my group was doing research on DID for our slides, I immediately was amazed, yet very confused about what DID was. I found it so confusing how someone in one body can have different personalities, each with their own unique voices, emotions, and thoughts. A marvel show also came out, with a superhero who has DID, and it immediately made me more intrigued about the disorder. The main hero in the show constantly switches from one personality to the other, and it was always cool seeing how that was kind of how DID works in real life. In my drawing, (although they all look like different people), I was intending to draw 4 faces of the same person. All 4 faces have 4 different names, representing the one man's multiple personalities. That is why in the middle I wrote “1 Body 4 Personalities.” In the back of all the words, the word trauma can be seen, because severe trauma is the main reason why this disorder occurs to people.

Personally, meditation was difficult for the first couple of months. I only started noticing my mental health improving after about six weeks of daily practice. My stress levels were down, and my anxiety was easier to control. I've been meditating daily for about a year and a half now, and my mental health and focus continue to improve. I usually find a quiet place to sit in a comfortable position, whether on a chair or on a cushion atop the floor. The important thing is to sit up straight, so you can breathe easier without falling asleep. Let your eyes come rest on a spot on the floor in front of you. You aren't deliberately "looking at" the floor, just letting your eyes naturally fall to a sweet spot. Turn all your attention inside your body. Focus on your breath. Feel your lungs expand and contract. Feel the air flow in and out. You will get distracted. That's okay. Don’t push them away. Just gently return to your breath. Distracting thoughts will come again. Just focus on your breath again. Do this for a few minutes at a time. As your ability to focus improves, gradually build up to meditating for about twenty minutes, once a day.

This drawing shows a girl surrounded by a variety of sports balls. This represents how I cope with stress. I love sports and every time I'm dealing with something, I choose to play basketball or volleyball while listening to music. I feel like there is so much happening around me that the only consistent thing I have is sports. I love playing and getting better at what I love. Drawing this was also very therapeutic because it is calming to draw and color in all the things I drew.

I swam for the entire week last week, around 2 hours. In the beginning, I still had some anxiety and stress that are school related, however, I began concentrating on the swimming itself, and visualizing the next lap that I swam. Not only did that help me to forget about any stress, but I was able to also concentrate on the actual swimming, to improve the different techniques that I chose to focus on.

I decided to do meditation after hearing people I know doing it. According to them, it was helping them physically and mentally. Before the strategy, it is not something I feel comfortable doing. It is just weird. Nonetheless, I decided to give it a try since the past months were intense for me. During the strategy, I feel like it is something I can actually do on a daily basis. After a short time, it was not uncomfortable anymore. I started to feel comfortable doing it. After the strategy, I felt like I was thinking more clearly and calmly after it. I definitely recommend others try it out. However, to know when the right moment comes is to try it. Be open-minded, and don't fight too hard against it (the way I did for so long). Try out this strategy.