2022 In-Depth Post #4

Project Progress

As mentioned in my last post, the time between then and now has been spent finishing the fitness portion of my project and putting more focus on the mental health portion. To finish up the fitness portion I continued the implementation of my fitness plans. There were countless times that it was challenging to get up and hold myself accountable. I continued to work on developing routines and habits that work for me to assist in holding myself accountable. Looking back on where I started months ago I have developed a much healthier relationship with physical fitness and I improved my ability to listen to my body.

I was excited about switching to the mental health portion of this project. After spending so long focusing on physical fitness and rehabilitation it was nice knowing this project had a new focus. I did a lot of reading into mental health initiatives and watched plenty of interesting videos on the importance of mental health. I linked a few of them below if you wanted to watch them. I also re-read a book I read last summer called The Happiness Makeover by M.J. Ryan. It was interesting to go back and read the book through new eyes. One part that stuck out to me was when the book discussed how everyone just wants to be happy. You may not always agree with everyone’s methods of getting there, but they have the same aspirations as you, which is to be happy. Thinking about others’ actions through this lens makes it a lot easier to accept their actions even if you may not necessarily agree, which will help you worry less. If I have one big takeaway from my research, is that people who worry less are more likely to be happier and healthier.

Video links

After completing the bulk of my research and re-reading the Happiness Makeover by M.J. Ryan, I came up with three questions that I would ask people:

What makes you happy?

What makes you smile?

What makes you laugh?

I decided to ask these questions because I realized that I find the most happiness in seeing others happy. Asking people these three questions helps them practice gratitude which brings a smile to their faces and in turn brings me happiness. I got many different answers during the process of asking people these questions, though what they had in common was every single time I asked someone these three questions a smile was brought to their face. It was amazing seeing how all of their faces lit up whenever they would talk about their passions, people that bring them happiness, or memories they share with the people they love. This was an experience that I am going to remember for a very long time.

It was after I completed my research and talked to a variety of different people about these three questions I realized throughout in-depth this year a part of me has always been focusing on the importance of mental health. The actions I was taking as a part of my physical health practices such as exercising and spending time outside, all contribute to bettering one’s mental health.

Q&A

Mentorship Questions

  1. What kinds of learning opportunities does the mentor provide to expose you to new learning?

Working with my mentor as a coach outside of this project provides me with plenty of opportunities to learn and apply what I have learned through this project. I spend lots of time outside of the time I allot to work on in-depth. During this time, I have learned a lot from my mentor, both specific to my skill as well as general keys to life such as the importance of commitment and appreciation of others’ time. My mentor continuously pushes me and motivates me to do better and improve. He always says “rest when you are there” which has helped me a lot while following the fitness plans that I created, especially when I felt unmotivated.

With the experience that my mentor has through being an athlete, teacher, coach, and parent he has developed a mentoring style that had helped me learn a lot throughout my in-depth. Each time we meet, he gives me meaningful insight through the stories he tells. As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I learn a lot through the stories my mentor tells. I learn a lot about who he is and numerous important lessons that he has learned through life. My mentor shares his perspective and experience with physical fitness and mental health through his stories. Stories are an engaging way to expose me to new perspectives and make the learning process more engaging.

  1. What kinds of learning opportunities exist to reinforce new learning?

Working with my mentor outside of only this project gives me many opportunities to translate and reinforce my learning as a result. My mentor provides learning opportunities by sending me articles or videos he comes across which provides me with new learning opportunities. He often challenges my thinking as well. He will as me questions about what I have learned as a way to reinforce and apply my knowledge. My mentor also provides me with relevant feedback as we work through this project and there are opportunities where I can apply that feedback and work improve.

The end goal that has motivated me to continue working on this project is to learn as much as I can throughout this project and then be able to share this knowledge with others. Working with my mentor has given me opportunities to help share my knowledge with other people. I have been able to help lead and motivate others and share the knowledge that I have gained through research, my experience, and conversations with others.

  1. What kinds of opportunities exist that might accelerate learning?

To help accelerate my learning, I work with my mentor to help set goals to work towards to make progress on my project. We work to achieve the progress goals that I set while putting together the plan for this project. This is mainly led by me deciding what I want to learn and how long I want to spend on each part of my project on that. The other goals that my mentor and I set are ones more specific to my skill. They are less focused on making sure we are on track; they take on most of the focus of what I am learning. Often, they are questions or prompted ideas that my mentor asks me that I set out to find an answer to before our next meeting. Other times they are less information-based and more focused on fitness or mental health practices. As I work towards these goals with support from my mentor, I also receive feedback from him which helps me shift my focus and adapt my approach.

  1. When you get together what do you talk about?

I am extremely lucky again this year to be able to meet in person with my mentor and do so consistently. When we meet, we start with the usual greetings and just talk for a bit about what is going on in our lives. Then I updated him on the progress that I have made since the last meeting. I talk about the resources I used for research, the people I talked to, and the skill-related practices that I have been implementing into my life. Then I ask any questions that had come up since we last met. Whether or not any questions came up in between meetings with my mentor I always make sure to come up with some to ask. These questions are usually relevant to the research I was doing, the practices or fitness plans I was following, or related to the questions I set out to answer at the beginning of in-depth. After I ask these questions, our discussions usually begin to flow. Once we finish the in-depth related discussions, we will usually finish by talking about life, school, and rugby.

  1. What is going particularly well in your mentoring relationship right now?

This year I am particularly befitting from being able to meet with my mentor in person and regularly. It is also nice to have someone that I already knew as my mentor again, then use in-depth as an opportunity to get to know them better and learn from them. Currently what is going well is the shift from the fitness to the mental health portion of the project. My mentor has helped make this shift very smooth. We have been having open and educational discussions and I feel we have both been learning a lot from each other and the unique perspective each of us brings to the table. Recently, my reaching out to my mentor and setting up meetings with him has gotten a lot better. As a result, we have been having much more consistent meetings and I feel proud of the progress I am making as this project is slowly approaching its end.

  1. What are you learning about one another?

While working with my mentor, we have both been learning a lot about one another. It is not very often that you get a good look into a teacher’s life and who they are as a person, not only as a teacher. It has been nice to get to know my mentor more and build a better connection with him. Through our meetings and other conversations, I have learned a lot about his passions and interests as well as what has led him to where he is today. I have learned that he loves to mountain bike, and he used to play football at UBC. Tying his experiences into the stories he tells me has helped me learn this about him. I feel like my mentor is getting a better view of who I am. Sports are a big part of my life; school is another part of my life. My mentor has gotten a better better-rounded view of who I am through our meetings. Out discussions have also helped me feel a lot more comfortable talking with my mentor and connecting with him.

 

Thank you for reading this blog post! All aspects of my project thus far have been extremely memorable. I am excited to continue my health and fitness journey and begin the creation process of my in-depth night presentation.