Who am I?

I am a 16-year-old girl from Switzerland and the UK. I speak English and French fluently and I currently live in Singapore. I have green eyes, brown hair and tanned skin. I play a lot of sports and I perform a lot in the arts. You see me as chatty and open, I try and keep as smiley as possible but I can look a little intimidating at times. I am hardworking and I want to be as successful as possible in life. I like challenges and the outdoors, I am very reflective and always strive to keep learning. I am very honest and open to new ideas, I try and work towards problems rather than talk and avoid them. I am religious but I don’t practice it and I only believe in some aspects of it. I can sometimes get walked over as I am very generous and prioritise others wellbeing and happiness before mine. I always try my best to make others smile and feel happy even though I sometimes neglect those needs myself.

Ideal personality types 

I am personally a caring person. I like to know that everyone’s feelings have been taken into consideration and that their voices have been heard before acting. Personally I have always been this way and I do not think it is a bad thing. I work well with all sorts of people and I think it also makes me a really good collaborator and leader. Sometimes a difficulty I can face is when I try and appeal everyone and it, therefore, creates complications, sometimes I need to be harsher in regards to certain things and learn to say “no”. But overall I think that this trait is far more beneficial than problematic and it makes me happy to know that others are also happy and helps me create stronger bonds and relationships with others.

Emotional Intelligence

Some steps I have taken to improve my emotional intelligence is to have longer sleeps during the week and ensuring that I am not procrastinating too much. Lately, I have been sleeping far earlier but it has not been consistent enough to make the biggest difference but it is still rewarding to know personally. So far I think getting back in the rhythm of school is becoming easier and I think that is also helping to ensure I am getting work done and well. One trait I most wish to take through the IB with me is to be able to say no, this is in regards to friends, family, activities and school, I need to understand when things are too complicated and overwhelming me and be able to ask for help or say no.

Self Talk

I personally think that I have quite an optimistic thinking style. I always look at how I can improve and work hard to get there and I always see the success of that and it drives me to keep going. Occasionally I am aware that I feel as though I can’t do something or I can’t manage it, but I try and keep my head up and push through because I know I have managed it before. I think the positive self-talk will help me in the IB as it will keep me from being procrastinating too much and ensure that I am working the hardest I can in all my classes. I do still give myself days off and a break when I feel as though I am not getting productive work done and I have no energy.

Stress

In response to stress, my body will increase my heart rate, my legs start to tap or fidget, my hands get sweaty, I look around a lot, my mind will wander or be overwhelmed with thoughts. I do not think that stress is a bad thing, I think it can help give you that energy to do better but I think on the other hand it can also make you stutter or forget what you are doing. I think there needs to be a balance between a bit of stress to get the work done as well as some calm as not to mess up and make it worse. I know that I was a little stressed to perform for culturama as I had never purely danced and this surprised me as I do not have stage fright, but that stress rose my energy levels and made me try harder and therefore made me more successful.

Mental Health

My most protective factors when dealing with stress and adversity are; family, friends, activities, being flexible, being trusted, forgiveness, dreams and hopes.

What were some of my most challenging moments and what made them so?

The most challenge thing for me was getting back into the rhythm of everything and picking up habits and routine. I was expecting the IB to get harder a lot slower and instead it got harder a lot faster, compared to IGCSE it is very different and you have a lot more independence. For me, this independence was almost too much and therefore I did not know how to respond and act, there was too much choice and then I would get worried and overwhelmed. I also felt as though sometimes I couldn’t get some work done and that I was being overworked but I managed to work around that and I started to build new habits and routines which so far have been working well. I also feel as though sometimes I had too much ongoing during the week and it would make meeting homework a difficulty but I know that I will get through it and manage it on time. I just need to stay motivated and hard-working and everything will fall into place, I know IB is challenging but I will take that headfirst and work through it.