2022 self reflection essay

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Don’t Underestimate the Power of Self-Reflection

• James R. Bailey
• Scheherazade Rehman

Focus on moments of surprise, failure, and frustration.

Research shows the habit of reflection can separate extraordinary professionals from mediocre ones. But how do you sort which experiences are most significant for your development?

• To answer this questions, the authors asked 442 executives to reflect on which experiences most advanced their professional development and had the most impact on making them better leaders.
• Three distinct themes arose through their analysis: surprise, frustration, and failure. Reflections that involved one or more or of these sentiments proved to be the most valuable in helping the leaders grow.
• Surprise, frustration, and failure. Cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. These parts of you are constantly in motion and if you don’t give them time to rest and reflect upon what you learned from them, you will surely fatigue.

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

Empathy, communication, adaptability, emotional intelligence, compassion. These are all skills you need to thrive in the workplace and become a great leader. Time and again, we even hear that these capabilities are the key to making yourself indispensable — not just now but far into the future. Soft skills, after all, are what make us human, and as far as we know, can’t be performed well by technologies like artificial intelligence.

• James R. Bailey is professor and Hochberg Fellow of Leadership at George Washington University. The author of five books and more than 50 academic papers, he is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, The Hill, Fortune, Forbes, and Fast Company and appears on many national television and radio programs.
• Scheherazade Rehman is professor and Dean’s Professorial Fellow of International Finance. She is director of the European Union Research Center and former Director of World ExecMBA with Cybersecurity, has appeared in front of the U.S. House and Senate, and been a guest numerous times onPBS Newshour, the Colbert Report, BBC World News, CNBC, Voice of America, and C-Span.

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Self Reflection Essay

What goes through your mind when you have to write a self reflection essay? Do you ponder on your life choices, the actions you take to get where you want to be or where you are now? If you answered yes and yes to both of the questions, you are on the right track and have some idea on what a reflection essay would look like. This article would help give you more ideas on how to write a self reflection essay , how it looks like, what to put in it and some examples for you to use. So what are you waiting for? Check these out now.

10+ Self Reflection Essay Examples

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Defining Self

A person’s self that is different from the rest. On occasions it is considered as an object of a person’s view.

Defining Self Reflection

A self reflection is often described as taking a step back to reflect on your life. To take a break and observe how far you have become, the obstacles you have gone through and how they have affected your life, behavior and belief.

Defining Self Reflection Essay

A self- reflection essay is a type of essay that makes you express the experiences you have gone through in life based on a topic you have chosen to write about. It is a personal type of essay that you write about.  It makes you reflect on your life and journey to who you are today. The struggles, the fears, the triumphs and the actions you have taken to arrive at your current situation.

Tips on Writing a Self Reflection Essay

When writing a self reflection essay, there are some guidelines and formats to follow. But I am here to give you some tips to write a very good self reflection essay. These tips are easy to follow and they are not as complicated as some might believe them to be. Let’s begin. To write a good self reflection essay, one must first do:

• Think : Think about what you want to write. This is true for the title of your essay as well. Thinking about what to write first can save you a lot of time. After this tip, we move on to the next one which is:
• Drafting : As much as it sounds like a waste of time and effort, drafting what you are preparing to write is helpful. Just like in the first tip, drafting is a good way of writing down what you want and to add or take out what you will be writing later.
• State the purpose : Why are you writing this essay? State the purpose of the essay . As this is a self reflective essay, your purpose is to reflect on your life, the actions you did to reach this point of your life. The things you did to achieve it as well.
• Know your audience : Your self reflection essay may also depend on your audience. If you are planning on reading out loud your essay, your essay should fit your audience. If your audience is your team members, use the correct wording.
• Share your tips: This essay gives you the opportunity to share how you have achieved in life. Write down some tips for those who want to be able to achieve the same opportunity you are in right now.

How long or short can my self reflection essay be?

This depends on you. You may write a short self reflection essay, and you may also write a long one. The important thing there is stating the purpose of you writing your essay.

Writing a self reflection essay, am I allowed to write everything about my life?

The purpose of the self reflection essay is to reflect on a topic you choose and to talk about it.

Is there a limit of words to write this type of essay?

Yes, as much as possible stick to 300-700 words. But even if it may be this short, don’t forget to get creative and true in your essay.

A self reflective essay is a type of essay that people write to reflect on their lives. To reflect on a certain topic of their life and talk about it. Most of the time, this type of essay is short because this is merely to take a step back and watch your life throughout the beginning till the present time. Writing this type of essay may be a bit difficult for some as you have to dive deep into your life and remember the triumphs and the loss. The beauty of this essay though is the fact that you are able to see how far you have reached, how far you have overcome.

Self Reflection Essay Generator

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

Write a Self Reflection Essay on a time you overcame a personal obstacle.

Reflect on your personal growth over the last year in your Self Reflection Essay.

5 Ways to Reflect on 2022

Year-end reflection is important for transformation, growth, and change..

Posted December 30, 2022 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

• What Does "Self Help" Mean?
• Find a therapist near me
• Reflection is transformative and can inspire growth and change.
• Reflection provides a deeper insight into our experiences.
• Reflection can be done alone or with friends or loved ones.
• Reflective writing is a powerful tool to help us examine our experiences.

To reflect is to take the time to evaluate or meditate on the experiences and events in our lives, and view them either separately or in the context of our entire life to see how they have affected us. Reflection is also about considering how our experiences changed us or have helped us grow. In self-reflection, you’re thinking of your own life and its trajectory. Self-reflection is an essential tool for transformation and change. If you’re unhappy or are dealing with difficult situations, taking the time to self-reflect can help you move through them with renewed intention and purpose.

Why Reflect?

The last week of the year seems to be the perfect time to reflect on the happenings of 2022. However, because most of us have fast-paced lives, we don ’ t always have the time or inclination for self-reflection or evaluation of our lives. Reflection also inspires us to learn and better understand ourselves. This is particularly important if you ’ ve had experiences or people in your life that troubled you in the past year. According to fellow PT contributor Tchiki Davis, when making change, remember to do so with gentleness and self-compassion (2019). It ’ s important that we don’t spend too much time judging ourselves, but rather accept what happened in the past and consider making appropriate changes in 2023 that will lead to a more harmonious and happier life, all of which contribute to your sense of well-being.

“ Life-reflection is a social-cognitive process that begins in adolescence and continues across the life span,” writes Ursula Staudinger (2001). Reflection has different purposes during different life stages, but on the whole, it provides us with insight into who we are and what makes us happy. Sometimes we prefer to reflect alone, but we should also consider including friends, therapists, or family in the experience. This can help offer deeper insight into our experiences. Reflection has many positive outcomes. A study reported in the Harvard Business School Newsletter showed that employees were more productive when they reflected on their work, and it also enhanced their learning process.

Reflective Writing

Reflective writing is writing that is helpful at the end of the year. If you keep a journal or are writing a memoir, chances are you ’ ve engaged in reflective writing. Practicing this activity not only allows us to look back upon an experience, but it also shares in the safety of our journal the thought processes associated with the experience. Consider writing about the meaning these circumstances had on your life, and how it has affected who you are today.

Author Mark Freeman examines the idea of hindsight , which he refers to as a “ process of looking back over the terrain of the past from the standpoint of the present and either seeing things a new or drawing” various connections. He further remarks that hindsight is at the core of self-understanding (2009). The truth is, we cannot successfully self-reflect without hindsight.

Benefits of Reflection

Reflection is a good habit to engage in and has many benefits: it can be transformative, it helps facilitate changes, and it increases our sense of self-awareness. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” When we don ’ t examine our life, it ’ s easy to lose perspective about what really matters and open ourselves up to prolonged unhappiness.

Here are some journaling prompts or talking points to inspire reflection:

• What are you grateful for?
• What have you learned in 2022?
• What mistakes did you make in 2022?
• What problems or obstacles did you encounter in 2022?
• What helped you cope with difficult situations in 2022?

Davis, T., Ph. D. (2019, October 7). What Is Self-Reflection and Why It Matters For Wellness . Psychology Today. Retrieved December 29, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/201910/what-is-self-reflection-and-why-it-matters-wellness

Di Stefano, G., Gino, F., Pisano, G. P., & Staats, B. R. (2014). Learning by Thinking: How Reflection Aids Performance. SSRN Electronic Journal . https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2414478

Freeman, M. (2009). Hindsight: The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.

Staudinger, U. M. (2001). Life Reflection: A Social–Cognitive Analysis of Life Review. Review of General Psychology , 5 (2), 148–160. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.2.148 .

Diana Raab, MFA, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, educator, and survivor. She’s written nine books of nonfiction and poetry, including the recent Writing for Bliss and Writing for Bliss: A Companion Journal.

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How to Write a Self-Reflection Essay: Format and 3 Examples

Mar 20, 2022

Mar 20, 2022 | Blog

What is self-reflection?

Self-reflection is the process in which an individual takes time to deeply think about himself. During this time individuals will think about their character and their actions. Most of the time you will ask yourself different reflection questions concerning your life, what you do and where you want to be. The power of self-reflection is evident because it helps you to understand yourself even better. You can be able to know your strengths your weaknesses and how your emotions are through self-reflection . You will be able to understand your strengths too.

What is a Self-Reflective Essay

A self-reflective essay is a brief paper where you describe an experience and how it has changed you or helped you to grow. Self-reflective essays often require students to reflect on their academic growth from specific projects or assignments, though others might require you to have a critical examination of a life experience or think about the impact of a specific event in your life.

Self-reflection is a personal experience. Therefore, the tone and voice of the writing are personal as well. Written typically from a first-person point of view, these types of essays take the reader through a journey of growth and discovery. The structure and format follow a typical essay writing outline. Begin with an introduction that presents the thesis statement , followed by body paragraphs that further the thesis with detailed, thorough supporting information, and conclude with a recap of the thesis statement and summary of logical conclusions.

What Is the Purpose of a self-Reflection Essay?

The purpose of reflective writing is to:

• Help you learn from a particular practical experience.
• It will help you to make connections between what you are taught in theory and what you need to do in practice.
•  To provide a platform for the author to not only recount a particular life experience but to also explore how he or she has changed or learned from those experiences.
• It’s useful for helping you develop critical thinking skills.
• Reflective writing helps you develop as a student and a thinker by examining your beliefs and assumptions, processing new valuable information, and recognizing patterns between knowledge gained through personal experiences and that acquired from outside sources.

The process of reflection can be used to inform future learning and practice.

Reflective essays writing is:

• your response to experiences, opinions, events, or new information
• your response to thoughts and feelings
• a way of thinking to explore your learning
• Self-reflection essay writing is not: just conveying much information, instruction, or argument
• purely descriptive (e.g. what happened, a summary)
• simply a description of your reaction
• journalistic – a matter of fact account

What Do I Write About?

Here are some ideas subjects you can write about to help you begin:

• The moment you overcame a fear.
• A time you felt lost.
• The most difficult choice you had to make.
• A moment in your life you would like to relive.
• The happiest moment, or most frightening moment, of your life so far.
• An experience you will never forget.
• An introspective look at your choices, or a time you made the wrong choice.
• A time something changed your life.
• Ways you think you, or people can make the world a better place.
• A time your beliefs were challenged.

Reflection Paper Format

The format of a reflective essay greatly differs from that of a normal argumentative or research essay. A reflective essay is more of a well-structured story or an anecdote rather than an academic piece of writing. In order to write an effective reflection paper, it is imperative to understand what it is and what it entails. It can be compared to journaling in which you write about your daily experiences and happenings in your personal life.

You might be required to arrange your essay using the APA style or the MLA format .

Reflective Essay in MLA Format

• 1” margins;
• The top right includes last name and page number on every page;
• The last page includes a Works Cited.
• Times New Roman 12 pt font double spaced;
• The header should include your name, your professor’s name, course number, and the date (dd/mm/yy);
• Titles are centered;

Reflective Essay in APA Style

• Insert page number on the right;
• Your reflective essay should be divided into four parts: Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References.
• Include a page header on the top of every page;

How To Write Self Reflection Essay

Introduction.

This is the part of the essay where you will have to introduce yourself to your readers. Your introduction must contain information about your past experiences, things that have changed in your life, how you have coped with those changes and how these things have impacted you in the long run. Tell them everything about yourself and make sure that it is not too boring or too lengthy.

An essay on self-reflection requires academic research. It is very important for the student to present a powerful thesis statement in order to get into the depth of reflection. The thesis statement must be clear and concise. It is advisable to make an outline before writing the introduction of the essay, which will help you to stay focused and provide clear and logical transitions between different points or events that you describe and analyze.

Plot and Narration

A plot defines the series of events in the main character’s life and narration is the style of telling the story. The author chooses the narration technique that best allows him to tell his story.

The author needs to find a plot or an event that defines him. This event can be small and insignificant but it should have had some impact on his life. The event should have given him some insight into himself that he would not have realized otherwise. This proper insight into the overall content is then used as the theme of the essay.

Personal Experiences

Self-reflection is a hard task because you need to be very sincere with yourself in order to write a meaningful essay. Before you start writing, think about the purpose of the whole paper. The main condition is that it has to be a certain personal experience on which the author has his very own perception. This experience involves personal ideas, opinions, and feelings about that situation, and how it affected the author.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Self-reflection can be difficult since we are often unaware of our own flaws. To discover our strengths and weaknesses, we need honest feedback from other people. However, it may be difficult to get honest feedback if others are reluctant to hurt our feelings or they do not want to deal with our reaction to criticism.

Writing a self-analysis can be both rewarding and challenging as you will have an opportunity to analyze your strengths, shortcomings, mistakes, and achievements. Writing about yourself may seem easy at first, but it can be extremely challenging when you start thinking about all the details that have influenced your life. In order to write a thorough self-reflection essay, you need to have a clear idea of what you will discuss in your paper.

Self-Reflective essays should have a clear conclusion. The conclusion should summarize everything you have discussed in your work. It should also highlight the lessons you have learned in the process. Ideally, you should state what you have learned from the experience and why it is important. In most cases, this type of essay does not require much research since it is based on your personal experiences. However, you still need to ensure that your points are well articulated and supported with evidence where necessary.

To enable you to compose an ideal conclusion for your great reflective essay, here are some tips:

• Make a summary of your main points. This can serve as the concluding statement of your reflection paper.
• Add recommendations. If you were assigned to talk about the lessons of the movie or book, you can make recommendations about it like what people should do after watching or reading such materials.
• Include your personal summary and self-assessment. You can wrap up your paper by summarizing everything you have discussed in the body and then give a final assessment of the whole thing. You may also see personal essay examples and samples

Reflective Essay Examples

Get help from the experts with your reflective essay.

If you are having trouble writing a great reflective essay, our experts can help. It’s not unusual to feel stuck at the beginning when trying to write one of these essays on your own. We can help by pairing you with an expert who has been there before and knows exactly what it takes to get you through this assignment with flying colors. Our experts are available 24/7 to help you get started or improve on what you have already written. Don’t wait any longer!

With a deep understanding of the student experience, I craft blog content that resonates with young learners. My articles offer practical advice and actionable strategies to help students achieve a healthy and successful academic life.

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A reflective essay is a type of writing where you explore how an event, experience, or concept has influenced your development or perspective. It involves deep thinking, self-analysis, and personal reflection. In a reflective essay, you explai what you learned and how you changed as a result of that experience.

In this article, you will learn how to write a reflective essay, and how to highlight impactful experiences. A reflection essay seems easy as you don’t have to defend one’s point of view or convince the reader of something. But it has its challenges, so we recommend to keep on reading and find out everything you need to know about this type of essay. More complex examples are available down below.

What Is a Reflective Essay: Definition

A good question to start with is, “What is a reflective essay?” A reflective essay is a type of academic writing, in which the student has to test personal life experience/position towards a particular topic. Unlike in argumentative writing, the student does not have to defend the personal position. It does not require a complicated, professional language with some terminology. Do not define something - focus on sharing personal life experience, skills, development, and the most vivid examples to illustrate the topic.

Reflective Essay Format

A reflection essay student writes to meet the college writing standards has a different format from the one a magazine writer should present to reach the issue’s audience. However, each reflective paper has a similar outline. Reflective essay format depends on the general requirements your teacher provides. Some of them can ask for a specific format for your essay. APA writing style , MLA, and Chicago are the basic formats you can use. But if you don’t know exactly which formatting to use, you can use reflective essay apa format. This is the most common college essay format, so knowing its requirements is critical: Font:  Times New Roman, 12 points Interval:  Double interval Margins:  1 inch all round Page Numbers:  Insert a title in the upper left corner of each page.  

Reflective Essay Outline and Structure

Knowing how to write a reflective essay is essential. Even if you feel confident about your thoughts and knowledge, don’t start your writing without a clear and well-designed plan. Without logical essay structure , your essay will likely achieve lower marks. To avoid this situation, follow 10 easy steps we provided below. The first thing every student needs to understand how to write a good reflective essay is an effective, detailed outline. It has 3 typical sections: introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Writing a reflective essay does not require any references – the only person to refer is the student who decides to share his thoughts & ideas. Let’s look at 4 main reasons to include an outline of reflective essays.  

• An outline assists in laying out the details the student wants to leave after narrowing down the draft before working on the final paper. It prevents them from concluding the essay by realizing something is missing.
• An outline provides a clear, concise roadmap, which prevents the writer from taking curvy paths and facing dead ends. It shows the way like a compass in the woods.
• An outline helps to save a lot of time.
• An outline helps the potential readers, including teachers & classmates, to avoid falling off the main point when reading the essay partially.

Reflective essay outline is not much different from other types of essays. Use this reflective essay template in creating your perfect reflective essay:

How to Start a Reflective Essay: Creating an Introduction

Let’s figure out how to write a reflective essay introduction. Start with stating the primary focus of the personal reflection. Avoid being indirect and covering a range of topics; stay direct and concise by underlining the basic purpose of sharing a life experience. Professional Opinion:

“Giving a preview of the most exciting part of the story is a clue. The target reader may lack time to read the full piece from cover to cover. “There are many things I have learned from Marketing class. The most valuable lesson I have obtained is checking the effectiveness of 2 different approaches or services through utilizing so-called A/B testing.” It will make the reader think about what is special about this specific method. The reader will go on reading the body paragraphs to find out!” Professor Hemsworth, History & Anthropology teacher and academic writer at StudyCrumb

Another way to attract attention in the introductory paragraph is to come up with the intriguing hook for essay sentences like statistics, fact, quote, metaphor, rhetorical question, or joke. It depends on the mood of your reflective narrative.

Working on Reflective Essay Thesis

Some people may say that a reflective essay does not need a thesis. However, the example shared in the previous section talking about introduction is an example of the inspiring thesis statement. Include at least a reflective summary of the primary idea. The best idea would be to focus on previewing the peak of the plot development or highlighting the most valuable lesson learned. Let’s take a look at this little reflective essay thesis sample.

If you find it challenging, rely on our  professional essay writing service  and have your reflective essay done with academic standards in mind. 

Writing a Reflection Essay Body Paragraph

What is the purpose of a body paragraph ? The body paragraphs of the reflective analysis interpret the way the author evolved or what he/she has absorbed from a particular life lesson (mention 3 different lessons). When writing your reflective essay you should mention the circumstances that forced you to pass a certain way. If you study a subject like English Literature or Arts, the paper’s prompt may ask you to describe how you changed as a field professional during the course of study. It is important to choose a specific interval of time to list the improvements. Compare & contrast the initial skills to the knowledge you have today. It is a great idea to tell the audience the ways various tasks, challenges, and lessons made the author grow since the beginning of his education. There is no need to conduct research to collect the supporting evidence. The author alone is responsible for defending every stated claim with the help of vivid samples that describe the topic the best. Example: In case the student has become more professional in the field of writing, he should list the causes of those changes (new English teacher, more practice at home, part-time job related to the field of writing). Who knows – some of the ideas may be used by other students to succeed!  

How to Write a Reflective Essay Conclusion

The question of how to end a reflection paper is not less important. The last challenge is to prepare an impressive, inspiring, and powerful conclusion, which will make the target readers want to develop the same positive way. Write a reflective summary regarding the way you have changed over a given period of time. Share some forecast by looking ahead: how the experiences listed in the essay would influence further personal development. By looking at the past events, decide which of them was the most important. The good idea is to compare & contrast past and future events to stress the gaps between the obtained skills and experience, possibly gained in the future. Don't want to bother with writing any conclusions? Use a summary maker to generate e reflective essay conlusion in seconds.

How to Write a Reflective Essay: 10 Easy Steps

Writing personal reflection helps students to stress their individuality by highlighting various skills, knowledge, behavior, feelings, and even mood. The purpose of writing a reflective essay is to show how the person changed over time and what factors played an important role in those metamorphoses. Keep on reading this section to learn steps that will make your reflective writing perfect. Step 1:  Think of the questions that interest you the most. It may be your experience, feelings, or an event in life. Make sure you analyzed the question well. Check credible sources and collect relevant information. Step 2:  Decide what you want to write about. Make sure you know how to title an essay . Identify the topic. Step 3:  After you decided on a topic, create an appealing title that will entice readers. Make sure your title is clear and to the point. Step 4:  Create an outline of your essay. Step 5:  Create an attention-grabbing hook for reflective essay. It should be some intriguing sentence or phrase that will arouse the interest of your readers. Step 6:  Create an introduction of your reflection paper. Step 7:  Think what you will include in the main body of your text. Start writing your body paragraphs. Step 8:  Diversify your text with all the necessary details to make your readers see a clear picture of the environment in your story. It can be some place, people, atmosphere, etc. Step 9:  After the reader is already familiar with the setting and characters, you should tell about yourself. What were your feelings? How has the situation affected you? What did you learn from this situation? Step 10:  Conclude your reflective essay. Briefly summarize all the points that were mentioned in your text and provide a short moral with recommendations. You can use these steps as a checklist for your writing process. In case you need another step-by-step guide on response essays  or any other type of writing, we've got you covered.

>> Read more: How to Write Essays

Reflective Essays Sample From Successful College Students

No recommendations, tips & tricks help the students to understand the way a particular assignment should look like in the end as effectively as the examples. The article contains one of the up-to-date reflective essay examples from a college student.

Writing a Reflective Essay: Bottom Line

Congratulations, we have learned how to write a reflective essay. We really do hope that our guidelines, tips, and examples were useful to you. Now, you can definitely work on your reflection assignment with a clear understanding of its structure and main points. So start your writing, and the sky's the limit! 

In case you need more writing tips, feel free to browse our Blog. Be it a diagnostic essay , a synthesis essay  or a response paper , we have tutorials for any type of writing. 

Consider  buying essay papers  in case you've got other plans for the evening. Submit your details to StudyCrumb and get an astounding paper written in line with your requirements. Your assigned writer will handle any assignment with a blink of an eye!

Frequently Asked Questions about Writing a Reflective Essay

1. what is a common mistake when writing a reflective essay.

A common mistake when writing a reflective essay is to drift away from the subject you're writing about. It usually happens when you don’t stick to your initial plan. So plan your writing well and if you feel that you go a bit off topic, be sure that you return to the same topic you originally discussed.

2. What is the purpose of writing a reflective essay?

The purpose of writing a reflective essay is to make a student write about their personal experience, explore it, reflect on it and find positive and negative aspects. The goal is to analyze how a student changed due to this experience and what made them change. What lesson a student learned is an essential point in persuasive writing.

3. How to write a reflective essay on a book?

If you are writing a reflective essay on a book, the main task is to show your teacher how you reflect on a chosen book, how you understand the problem presented by an author. To create a good essay, start with brief information about the author. Then, without spoilers, briefly summarize the main points of a book. After that explain the main conflicts, share your impressions. Ask questions like: “What are the peculiarities of the main characters?”, “What did an author want to say by indicating the main issues?”

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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10.5 WRITE: Instructions for the Self-Reflection Essay

Start with the revised paragraphs from the four self-reflection prompts:

• What makes a good academic research essay?
• Why do we learn to write an academic research essay?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses in writing an academic research essay in English?
• How does the use of outside sources of information affect the quality of your academic research essay?

Copy and paste each of your four revised paragraphs into one new document. Organize the four paragraphs in a logical sequence so that each paragraph builds on the previous one. Think carefully about the order of information and how to make connections between the ideas.  Add transitions for a smooth flow between sentences and paragraphs. Add an introduction, conclusion, and title. Finally, proofread carefully for grammar and mechanics.

• Use 1-inch margins on all sides
• Use Times Roman 11 or 12 point font or similar
• Use double-spaced lines
• Use page numbers
• Include your full name and date in the upper left-hand of the first page
• Include a title, centered at the top of the page
• Use the TAB key on your keyboard to indent each paragraph
• Use primarily your own words. Outside sources are not required. However, if you use information from an outside source, then you must include in-text citations and a Works Cited page. Follow MLA format.
• For this assignment, you may write in first, second, or third person. You may use an informal tone and informal vocabulary.
• Use six or more paragraphs. The exact number of words, sentences or pages is not important. What is important is that your ideas are clear, compelling, and complete.
• Proofread carefully for grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

Each draft is worth 10 points, however each draft is graded differently. The grading rubric for the first draft awards more points for content and organization, while the grading rubric for the second draft awards more points for grammar and mechanics.

• Grading Rubric for Draft Essay – See Appendix B
• Grading Rubric for Revised Essay – See Appendix C

MODEL SELF-REFLECTION ESSAY

ANALYZE THE ASSIGNMENT

• What is the purpose of this essay?
• Who is your primary audience for this essay?
• What type of essay will this be? What will you say or show?
• What voice or point of view should you use in this essay?
• What evidence should you use to support your ideas?
• How long should this essay be?
• When is the draft version of this essay due?
• How will you submit the first draft of your essay?
• When is the revised version of this essay due?
• How will you submit the revised version of your essay?

Synthesis Copyright © 2022 by Timothy Krause is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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11.1: Self-Reflection Essay

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Coffee, With a Side of Deadline Hectoring

By Ann Tashi Slater

The New Yorker, December 26, 2022

The Restaurant With Many Orders

By Kenji Miyazawa

Translation by Wikisource , April 20, 2021

Introduction

Tokyo's Manuscript Writing Café admits only procrastinating writers facing a deadline. Customers can order coffee with either occasional polite check-ins from the staff or someone to stand over them as they work. Click on the title link to read Ann Tashi Slater's article describing how some customers use the café. Part of the owner's inspiration for the Manuscript Writing Café was a 1924 short story about another eating establishment which provided a different type of orders to its customers. Click on the title link to read the story.

When you've read both articles, consider the questions below.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

• Describe the different meanings of the word "order" in the Manuscript Café. How do these meaning differ from the types of "order" provided in the Wildcat House Restaurant in the story "The Restaurant With Many Orders"?
• Do the customers in each reading react negatively or positively to receiving orders?
• Why do the two gentlemen in the Wildcat House Restaurant respond to increasingly odd orders by repeatedly saying, "Really important people must come here."
• Are you a procrastinator? Would a person monitoring your writing progress and giving orders be a motivator? Why or why not?
• Did you ever use a tutor to cram for a test? If yes, did the tutor or the deadline of meeting with a tutor help you stay on deadline?
• In what ways could you argue that the Manuscript Writing Café would be ineffective, inequitable, or otherwise not useful to students?
• What would improve the Café's ability to help students finish their work?

Ideas for Writing

• What tasks might you typically procrastinate? Do you ever procrastinate writing assignments? What causes you to procrastinate--no time, difficult assignments, or other reasons?
• Imagine what type of Café could help you get started on a task. It could be modeled on the Manuscript Café or it could provide other services to help with problems that prevent you from doing schoolwork, such as tutors or workers to help you with job or family responsibilities, for example.

Works Cited

Slater, Anne Tashi. "Coffee With a Side of Deadline Hectoring." The New Yorker, 26 Dec. 2022, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/02/coffee-with-a-side-of-deadline-hectoring. Accessed 2 Jan. 2023.

Wikisource contributors. "Translation:The Restaurant With Many Orders." Wikisource , 30 Apr. 2021, The Restaurant With Many Orders - Wikisource, the free online library [en.wikisource.org] . Accessed 2 Jan. 2023.

My 2022 Annual Reflection: Practicing Resilience and Finding Joy

My annual reflection for 2022 and what I learned to take into 2023.

Happy new year, friends!

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions, but over the last few years, I’ve instead set themes . Themes, in contrast to goals, are something I keep in the back of my mind as I make decisions on how to manage the different elements of my life. They are more of a north star to follow than a specific end result.

When I finished my reflection last year, my 2022 theme was: “Keep it going, keep it steady.”

As I do every year I looked back through my calendar, journal, and daily reflections to read through all the highs and lows of the year.

You can read about the steps I went through for the annual reflection in How To Do an Annual Reflection to Get The Most Out Of The Year Ahead and more about how to set themes in Take Aim: How To Reflect, Set Direction, and Make Progress In The Year Ahead .

Looking back, I definitely kept it going, I kept some things steady… but not everything . After my reflection, I saw that in practice my annual theme wasn’t actually “keeping steady”.

It was: “Keep it going, even when things aren’t steady”

And I did that. It was a tough year in some respects but one that also had plenty of wins and joy.

Here is my annual reflection for 2022 and what I learned to take into 2023!

Looking back at 2022

1: resilience through the messy middle.

Early in the year as I struggled through our endless Albertan winter, I realized I was in the messy middle of this particular phase of my entrepreneurial journey. I rode the high motivation and energy of starting something new through a good chunk of 2021, but it was a different story in 2022!

Writing felt hard throughout the year. I battled low energy and motivation and grappled with self-doubt as I navigated through some of my more challenging times.

But I kept going:

• I wrote nearly every day.
• I published my articles on schedule (without fail!)
• My newsletter subscriptions continued to grow. I have subscribers in 45 countries!
• I kept up my fitness streak. 1830 days as of publishing.
• I continued great work with my productivity consulting clients and added my first clients outside North America.

I kept going through the messy middle by leaning on my daily habits (writing, fitness, reflection ), as well as the community of people that support my work (including you!). On the harder days, I tried to practise my own advice by taking Minimum Viable Days . On the good days, I tried to celebrate my wins and take joy.

I’m still in the messy middle and I think I will be for a while, but that’s ok. All I have to do is keep going. How hard could it be? 😉

2: Hard goodbyes and joyful hellos

Grief and joy were interwoven throughout 2022.

Both our senior cats died, Toby just before last Christmas , and Penny in May . As anyone with pets knows, our furry family members become integral parts of our daily lives. Over 15 and 13 years respectively, they were with me through many of the most significant happenings in my adult life as well as a large part of my daily rhythms.

While I knew we wouldn’t have them forever, it didn’t make it any easier to lose them. Penny’s sudden death was (and still is) particularly hard for me. She was my little shadow, a constant purring companion.

But we got to enjoy Penny in a new way as she adjusted to being a solo kitty for a while after Toby passed. And then, a few months after Penny, we welcomed our new kitties.

Winston and Stella have been a wonderful, energy-filled, addition. Life with two kittens after many years with senior cats has been no joke 😅. They keep us on our toes and it has been fun to learn their personalities and settle into new rhythms with them (except the one where they wake us up at 6:30 am every morning, I could do without that one 😴).

This year has been a reminder that grief and joy come hand in hand. We had many years of joy with Toby and Penny and, while I still grieve them both, we now have Winston and Stella bringing new joy each day.

3. The silver lining of missing something is the immense joy when you get it back

During the pandemic (I can't believe I can say those words 😩), we all experienced the seemingly endless stretch of the stops and starts of what you could/should and couldn't/shouldn’t do.

While Covid is here to stay, getting vaccinated and being able to go out and do things again in 2022 was wonderful.

• I went on my first post-covid trip outside of Canada to enjoy our annual NBA Summer League trip to Las Vegas with my brother and sister-in-law.
• I got to go to Vancouver on one of my writing retreats and, for the first time, met an online friend I made over Covid in person.
• I went with my niece and nephew to their first concert (Imagine Dragons) and got to experience their joy and excitement as they heard some of their favourite songs live for the first time.
• I got to celebrate with friends for 3 weddings, one of which I got to be a groomsperson for the first time and went to my first bachelor party!
• I was able to restart many of the traditions with our families that we had missed over Covid like pumpkin carving and gingerbread house construction.
• My husband and I celebrated 20 years since our first date with dinner at a favourite restaurant.

I also continued to do all the things that normally bring me joy: I played video games, ate a lot of pancakes (my favourite food!), enjoyed our garden, went for walks, watched basketball, and went for runs in the sunshine.

Regaining all of these opportunities and connections made them all sweeter.

4. Practicing what I preach

Starting in mid-October, I experienced my first MS relapse in the 5 years since my initial diagnosis. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but it still rocked me. All of the fears and grief I had when I was first diagnosed, which I had neatly tucked away, came roaring back.

As I write this I am still “in it”, experiencing symptoms. It’s scary, uncomfortable, and frustrating. It’s hard not to get tied up in knots about all the what-ifs and why is this happening to me.

But I am working hard to practise what I preach. l have been and will continue to keep going back to daily habits, rituals, self-kindness, and the things I listed above that bring me joy. They are the foundation of resilience.

All I can do is my best every day, knowing that sometimes “best” is 100% and sometimes it’s 20%.

What I learned in 2022 for 2023

These are the things I want to take with me into next year:

1. Life is not linear

Each time I do these annual reflections I am reminded that life is never a straight line from one thing to the next but a series of twists and turns. It’s like real-life Snakes and Ladders, with some lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) occasionally thrown in.

Sometimes we arrive where we thought we would, but often we end up somewhere entirely different.

In many respects, where I am today is not dramatically different than where I thought I would be. I took the initial turn to start this career path and from the outside, it looks as expected. I am growing my consulting practice , writing my newsletter, and s peaking at events .

But it’s significantly different in that I am beginning to (or at least trying to) accept where my health fits into building and growing this business.

As I have written about before, there are things that matter and things that don’t , and I know that my health has to be at the top of my list of what matters. The challenge will be to have the courage, heart, and brain to listen to my body and accept that sometimes I have to avoid a snake and take a ladder elsewhere.

I may not end up where I thought, but I have no doubt it will still be pretty great.

2. I can always begin again

The practising part of practising resilience and practising what I preach meant I sometimes wasn’t very good at it. I didn’t always listen to my body as well as I should have. I have sometimes squandered opportunities for rest and recharge with half work and guilt. I let my boundaries and habits slip. But each time I realized what I was doing, I began again.

That’s all I can do really. Notice, begin again, and keep practising all the good things I know help me.

3. Now is not forever

In the worst moments of my MS relapse, I felt hopeless, afraid, angry and sorry for myself. I felt lost and like all the things I had imagined for myself had gone up in smoke. But they were moments . Fleeting and not a representation of my life now, and certainly not my life forever. I have and will feel all those things again, but they will pass again.

Part of still being “in it” is that it is harder to see the light. One of my friends, who is experiencing a similar health challenge, described it as waiting for the clouds to part.

There have been peaks of sunlight and I know it can’t stay cloudy forever. Eventually, the sun will shine through.

My theme for 2023: Space and grace

My theme for 2022 was: Keep it going, keep it steady.

In practice, it was: Keep it going, even when things aren’t steady.

As I look to 2023, I want to still keep it going, but the theme that I am starting the new year with is:

Space and grace.

I can keep it going. I know that. I kept going this past year despite the hard parts! But the going will be easier if I give myself the space to do things in my own time, in my own way, when my body feels up to it. I have to give myself the grace to rest when I can’t push any further.

Allowing myself space and grace means I will still push myself, keep building my business, and continue to grow, but do it gently .

“Space and grace” in action mean:

• I will do what I can each day, and that will be enough.
• I will plan for the best and be flexible when things need to change.

These are easier said than done, but I have them written on a note on my desk to remind me since I am sure I will need them!

What will your theme for 2023 be?

As always, my annual reflection provides me with so much valuable perspective. It has been especially helpful as I navigate my health situation. I can’t know what 2023 will bring but each year brings with it new trials and adventures and I am always excited to find out.

There will be ups, there will be downs, and I will do my best to live my theme and find all the joy I can. I hope you do too. What will your theme for 2023 be?

Going through your annual reflection and setting your theme for 2023 can feel overwhelming. If you could use some help to work through these processes, get in touch for a free consultation and we can talk about how I can help you.

Ashley Janssen

Productivity consultant, writer, speaker, serial entrepreneur, chaos calmer, introvert, cat-lady. Lover of books, fitness, old fashioned’s, basketball, and video games.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Hire me for 1 on 1 productivity consulting or speaking .

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An honest reflection on my imposter syndrome and self-doubt

Note: this essay originally appeared on The Women’s Network blog .

Hot take: I actually love doing icebreaker activities. Maybe it’s because I like learning about other people’s fun facts, or maybe it’s because I finally got over my irrational fear from high school that saying my favorite color was blue would make people laugh at me. Either way, I find them entertaining. But there’s one particular ice breaker that has always puzzled me (and no it’s not the odious “I brought on a picnic”): Say something that no one would ever guess about you.

I always wrack my brain to think of something interesting about myself that would impress the rest of the group. Usually I say something like “I’m really good at figure skating” or “I hate when people give me stuffed animals” (long story short: Toy Story 3 ). Recently, though, I’ve realized that there’s another answer which I don’t think anyone could guess. It’s that I have never felt good enough at anything, be it extracurriculars, academics, work, or even relationships.

On the outside, I come across as someone who is positive, bubbly, confident, and absolutely fearless when it comes to speaking in front of a crowd. I have involved myself in multiple groups on campus, including the JHU Barnstormers , Outdoor Pursuits , Mock Trial , Alpha Phi , Blue Key Society , and of course, The Women’s Network . I’ve been honored to not only be a part of these groups, but to hold leadership roles in many of them. I’ve taken on a double major in English and Writing Seminars with a minor in Theatre Arts & Studies. On paper, I’ve got an almost perfect resume. And yet, there is always that little voice in my head that tells me:

You’re absolutely terrible at this. Don’t mess up or everyone will hate you. You will never be good at this. Everything you’ve ever achieved was through luck. You are not good enough.

With how much I smile and joke around, and with how much I involve myself, you would never guess that this negativity runs through my head on repeat, day and night. I live in constant fear and anxiety that one day those voices in my head will be revealed for everyone to see. That at any moment, people are going to realize what I’ve been telling myself all along: that I’m not good at anything. I take on so many tasks and things to do, and when I can’t achieve them I feel crippling shame and self-doubt. I often refuse to ask for help because I fear people will see that I have no idea what I’m doing and will lose all faith in my abilities. I usually feel like I don’t belong at this school or in leadership positions, because I don’t see myself as deserving them. If someone ever praises me for doing something, I usually respond with “Well, anyone could’ve done it” or “But that person over there is doing so much more than me!”

It wasn’t until recently that I discovered what I have been struggling with has a name: imposter syndrome. And it wasn’t until I joined The Women’s Network that I learned I’m not alone with this burden.

Did you ever have that experience in middle school where the teacher would ask the class “Does anyone have any questions?” or “Does everyone understand this?” and you would look around and see all of your classmates nodding while you don’t even know what you don’t know to ask a question? It’s a horrible feeling! You feel out of place, lost, and just generally insecure about your own abilities. It’s very alienating.

Now think back to those moments where, when the teacher would ask that same question, you would make direct eye contact with your best friend across the room. Using only an upward lift of your eyebrows, you silently ask if they know what the heck is going on. The wide-eyed shake of their head was all you needed to know they were in the same boat. And it made you feel better, right? To know you weren’t alone, and to know other people were confused as well? Well that’s how I felt when I joined TWN and learned that other people not only felt this way, but were open to sharing their experiences and advice with others! I have had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with TWN presidents from other schools, all of whom are incredibly involved and leaders in every sense of the word. In my eyes, they are role models and inspirations to me, so hearing about their experiences with imposter syndrome has really helped me come to terms with it in myself. It’s like when you and your friend both fail a test. You’re not thriving by any means, but there’s bonding happening in shared failure.

Imposter syndrome is defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud in every situation. It is feeling like at any second, someone is going to find out that you don’t belong in a position or place, or realize that you aren’t worthy of everything you’ve accomplished. In other words, it is my daily experience. Imposter syndrome has its pros and cons. On one hand, it always motivates me to be working my hardest every day. But on the other hand, it causes anxious feelings and general tension, even during things I should be enjoying.

Let’s take a journey into my brain: I’m constantly trying to think one step ahead, doing double the work I need to do, trying to avoid someone finding out that I have no idea what I’m doing. Maybe it’s from my 15 years of theater experience, but I feel like I am performing every day, faking that I’m not struggling with my work or my life. I tell myself that I will not let other people see me struggle, that I can’t ask for help.

As noted before, I am also horrible at receiving compliments, as I genuinely never believe I deserve the praise I’m getting. I have painted myself as lazy and incompetent in my own mind, so that when I inevitably fail, there’s no fall because I wasn’t expecting success for myself. And so that when others inevitably become disappointed in me, it will just align with my personal view of myself and it won’t change anything. It’s a self-defense mechanism to protect myself from the disappointment of other people. I assume that if things go badly, it is fully my fault, but if things work out or go well, it is purely by luck. No matter what I accomplish, no matter how full my Google Calendar is, no matter how exhausted I am after a busy day of work, I never feel proud of myself or that what I did was good enough. I feel like a fraud in my own life. I shower my friends and loved ones with compliments and support, always telling them that they deserve all the praise for their accomplishments, so why can I never do the same for myself?

If you also struggle with imposter syndrome or if anything I’ve said sounds familiar, hello. I am here for you. You are so loved and so supported. I don’t want this to just be me documenting my struggles, I want to help you, too! So here are a few tips that I’ve accumulated over the years that I have found to work for me. (I am no professional, these are just my personal words of wisdom.)

1. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

I’m the kind of person who would have a 20-page paper due and procrastinate with no desire to even start it. But as soon as my friend says they have a 20-page paper and need my help, I drop absolutely everything to stay with them until they finish it. So I have used this habit of mine to combat my imposter syndrome.

For example, if I am confused in class, I think to myself: “I bet someone else in this class or in this event or in this meeting also has no idea what is going on. I’ll speak up for them.” If I know it can help someone outside myself, I am more eager to do it. I have also found that being aware of my own imposter syndrome helps me be more empathetic towards other people, and connect with those who may be struggling.

2. Surround yourself with supportive and understanding friends.

I have the best friends I could ask for, who bake me cupcakes, make me laugh at inappropriate times during Zoom calls, not to mention my roommate who listens to my singing for hours on end. In times when I feel down on myself, they are always there to lift me up, and it has helped me more times than I can count. Communicating with my friends that I feel this way also strengthens our relationships and lets them know how to support me when I need it.

3. Journal.

I love journaling. It helps get all my thoughts out of my head and onto paper. That way, I can actually see the “what ifs” bouncing around in my brain in front of me. It makes them seem smaller, in a sense, rather than large and overwhelming in my head. I like following journaling prompts or writing gratitude lists (thanks Carolina for this tip) when I have days I don’t know what to write about.

4. Talk to yourself like you would talk to someone you love.

Would you tell your closest friend that they were a fraud and didn’t deserve anything they’ve accomplished? Of course not! So why talk to yourself like that? I try to stop myself when I’m doubting myself and ask myself if I would say this to my best friends. It’s a small thought exercise, but it does help me quiet down those negative thoughts.

5. Decide to be confident.

Okay I know this sounds like someone telling you to “Just be happy!” when you’re sad, but hear me out. What would your life look like if you pursued everything with 100% self-confidence? What would change? Now actually do that. Raise your hand to speak in class. Volunteer to take charge in an extracurricular meeting. Choose to be proud of yourself. As a leader, I want to establish a precedent that it is okay to ask questions. Nobody ever knows everything. Everyone is always learning. So with that knowledge, I choose to be confident.

Do I still have days where I feel the self-doubt closing in? Absolutely! I wrote this article after crying for 30 minutes because I felt overwhelmed and incompetent. It was so difficult for me to describe this feeling and put it into words, but I did it in the hopes that someone (hi!) will read this and be comforted in the fact that they aren’t alone in this. I am not perfect. I cannot even tell you the number of papers I have turned in late (I am procrastinating doing one as I write this). And that’s okay! Being the “best” person in the room and having everything together isn’t what life is about. TWN taught me that if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. Life is about growth and discovery. And in the meantime, be kind to yourself. I, for one, think you deserve it.

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English Majors Practising Criticism

Final Self-Reflective Essay. Epigraphs and Learning

“Thank you,” I said. “I came back to this place to find something, to connect with something lost, to reunite if not with my whole self, then with a piece of it. What I’ve discovered is that this thing is not here. In fact, it is nowhere. I have learned that my name is not my name. It seems you all know me and nothing could be further from the truth and yet you know me better than I know myself, perhaps better than I can know myself. My mother is buried not far from this auditorium, and there are no words on her headstone. As I glance out now, as I feel the weight of this trophy in my hands, as I stand like a specimen before these strangely unstrange faces, I know finally what should be written on that stone. It should say what mine will say:

I AM NOT MYSELF TODAY.”

 — Percival Everett, I am Not Sidney Poitier

At the beginning of this semester we were introduced to our course’s epigraphs. Then we learned what an epigraph was. An epigraph is a short text placed at the beginning of another text. The epigraph is often a text from some outside source that does not seem connected to the main text that we are viewing. Part of what we learned about epigraphs is that they should make more sense to you after the completion of whatever they are attached to. So in this case, our course epigraphs should have some more clear meaning after the completion of the course. I was unsure of their meanings at the beginning. However, throughout the course all the little bits and pieces from the texts have come together to fit the puzzle in my head.

Following our discussion of the course epigraphs we wrote an essay about one of them. The essay was about what we were thinkING about following our reading of the course epigraphs and what sort of goals we could set for ourselves after thinkING about them. The essay was easy to write, and it wasn’t. The part of the essay that I found easy was being able to write about my opinion, my goals, and being able to write it in my voice. I find that if the essay allows me to write with my own voice I am more easily able to get my thinkING and writing flowing. The part that wasn’t easy was finding my start and being confident in my writing. Because I was slightly unsure about what to write, especially at the beginning, I had trouble starting my paper. Also, as I wrote it I felt slightly unsure if it was even relevant enough to the prompt. It was an interesting challenge that’s hard parts felt like the reverse of other essays I’ve written. During my first essay I focused on a different course epigraph that felt more relevant and interesting to me at the time. However, after coming to the end of this course I have found a different epigraph speaking to me more.

The epigraph I am focusing on for this essay is a quote from Percival Everett’s novel I am Not Sidney Poitier. I realized while reading the book that Everett’s use of contradictions, negations, and oxymorons was extremely captivating to me and this excerpt from the end of the book is full of the negations that I love. Furthemore, I feel that I have already expanded too much on the epigraph from my previous essay. Though I love the quote from Erasure, I found that I am Not Sidney Poitier as a whole text made such an impact on me that I can’t help but delve deeper into Everett’s book.

Throughout the semester we have looked at the texts I Am Not Sidney Poitier, re: f (gesture), Lilies of the Field, The Bacchae, Frenzy, and The Defiant Ones. Through each of these texts I believe the epigraph can apply in one way or another, especially when looking at them through an intertextual lens. The first text that comes to mind when looking at this epigraph is the text that it’s from, I Am Not Sidney Poitier. The book follows the story of a character called “Not Sidney Poitier” as he goes through trials and tribulations in his life. Already from the title we notice negation. The character’s name is Not Sidney Poiter, and he looks identical to the actor Sidney Poitier, however, he is not Sidney Poitier. The book is full of contradictory sentences that make it sometimes difficult to decipher meaning. For example, one important part of the story is that Not Sidney is wealthy beyond belief. Where did he get his fortune from? An inheritance from his mother who invested in the Turner Communications Group, a television broadcasting company. This is interesting because she hated television, in I Am Not Sidney Potier she called them “evil picture boxes” (Everett 16). If she hated television so much, why did she invest in it? It made her rich, yet she still doesn’t like or trust it. She believes in books. There is a lot to be unpacked from this small detail. It might show us that she believes that books are more important than television for learning, but she recognizes that TV is an unstoppable force that she can profit from. On the other hand, this contradiction could just go further to help illustrate her eccentricity. It might also be reflective of how Everett himself feels about television. There is no end to the amount of ways you could interpret this use of contradiction, and that is why I find his writing to be so fascinating. By adding the one line about her thoughts on television it gets you thinkING about things from inside the book and outside contexts.

I Am Not Sidney Poitier is about the life of the character Not Sidney, but many events in his life mirror the plots of the actor, Sidney Poitier, films. At one point in the book, Not Sidney is arrested and taken to Peckerwood County Correctional Prison farm. When he and a group of prisoners were being transported via bus, the bus crashed allowing Not Sidney and Patrice (another prisoner he was chained to) to escape. They then go on the run to try and find safety and become unchained from each other. This section of the book follows closely with the plot of The Defiant Ones, a 1958 film about two prisoners (one black and one white) on the run from the police after their prison bus crashed. There are a lot of contrasts in the book to the movie. In the book, Patrice is a “Peckerwood Hick.” He is nasty, racist, foul-mouthed, and a terrible speaker. He has a thick accent that is shown to be sometimes incomprehensible in the book. However, in the movie, his corresponding character “Joker” is a more genial character. He is definitely racist, but he’s not quite as raging and small-minded as Patrice. This decision to change Joker from a more open-minded white guy who has a change of heart, to a small-minded southern man who stays nasty throughout the novel gets us thinkING again. It might be a criticism of the way Hollywood tried to “solve” racism in the 1950s through small gestures and packages wrapped up in a neat little bow. It could be showing a more realistic version of the story, while occurring within a fantastically fictional setting. All of Everett’s contradictive choices in his texts are important because of how they get us thinkING.

As we can see, the epigraph’s contradictory aspects have followed us throughout the semester. Obviously, it is found a lot in the text that it’s from, I Am Not Sidney Poitier, but it can also be seen in the contrasts between texts like The Bacchae and Frenzy too , because Frenzy is a retelling of the classic story. It’s clear that a major reason for the epigraph is to get us thinkING and that’s what we’ve been doing all semester. We have learned how to learn, how to unpack ideas. We’ve become so good at it that we came to the conclusion that there is no end to learning. Through this course my perspective on learning has changed and is constantly changing because there is no perfect way to learn. That is one of the biggest takeaways from the semester. Learning is a constantly changing process. All of this can be found through the course epigraph. The epigraph itself represents what it means to learn. When looking at the epigraph with no context you can try to unpack as much meaning as you can, but it can be mostly impossible to understand. That is one level of learning. As you move further and you gain context, you can find more meaning in the quote and have a more solid understanding of what it means. Then you can look at outside contexts that can affect the meaning of the epigraph. The course epigraphs created a lens to interpret our whole course through. Moving forward I will always be thinking about the way I am learning and paying attention to what I like about writing styles because of the course epigraph.

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Essay Writing as a Tool for Self-Reflection and Personal Growth

T raditionally, essay writing was seen as an academic exercise, but not anymore. An essay is a piece of writing that is written to convince someone of something or to inform the reader about a particular topic. As students write essays, they introspect and learn at the same time. They understand that the essay writing process is not just about forming arguments or persuading readers; it is also a powerful mechanism for self-discovery. By articulating thoughts and emotions on paper, you better understand your perspectives and experiences.

Writing essays encourages writers to confront their inner thoughts, beliefs, and values. This confrontation is not always comfortable. Many of you already know this fact. However, the process is invariably enlightening. Through the structured thinking that essay writing demands, individuals can explore and organize their thoughts in ways other forms of reflection might not allow.

This process often leads to a deeper understanding of oneself. And not just that; it’s crucial for personal development. A 2019 study found that expressive writing has been shown to improve emotional and physiological health. Besides, the iterative nature of writing, that is, drafting, revising, and refining, mirrors the iterative process of personal growth. What does this premise mean? Well, self-awareness leads to new insights, which then lead to further questions and exploration.

But not everyone can write a compelling essay. Even the most talented writers can struggle with some topics. However, did you know that professional essay writers can help you with your paper? These experts specialize in specific disciplines and can provide subject-specific, content-savvy papers that surpass your expectations. And if you are not very conversant with writing an essay, rest assured that they will convince you or be adequately informed.

All in all, an essay must include several important components to make it flow logically. Its main parts (or sections) are the introduction, body, and conclusion. In a standard short essay, five paragraphs can provide the reader with enough information in a short space. However, more than five paragraphs must be present for a research paper or dissertation to not overwhelm the reader with too much information in one section.

Moreover, essay writing is a tool for emotional intelligence. Yes, you read that right. It offers a safe space for writers to express and manage their feelings. You often find clarity and a sense of relief as you translate complex emotions into words. The reflective practice of writing helps individuals cope with past experiences and prepares them for future challenges by building resilience and adaptability. Thus, the benefits of essay writing are vast. The following is a list of how essay writing is a tool for self-reflection and personal growth.

How Essay Writing is a Tool for Self-Reflection and Personal Growth

Essay writing can be the bridge between internal exploration and external expression. But how so? This practice allows individuals to explore their thoughts and feelings, translating introspection into tangible form. As you articulate your experiences and viewpoints, you engage in a dialogue with yourself, which fosters emotional growth.

• Enhances self-awareness : As previously mentioned, writing essays requires self-examination, which can significantly increase self-awareness. When you choose topics that resonate personally, you’re prompted to reflect on your beliefs, behaviors, and motivations. This process helps you understand yourself, highlights areas for improvement, and reaffirms your core values.
• Cultivates empathy : A recent study on the importance of writing practice showed statistically significant increases in various aspects of empathy, such as reasoning, including multiple perspectives, expressing emotion, and proposals for action, and statistically significant increases in empathy as a latent construct. When crafting essays, writers often explore different perspectives and consider alternative viewpoints. This exercise can cultivate empathy, as it encourages them to understand and articulate feelings and situations from other people’s points of view.
• Promotes critical thinking : Like any other form of academic writing, essay writing compels students to think critically about their experiences and the world around them. But the question is: how so? It involves analyzing one’s thoughts and questioning existing beliefs. This process can lead to new insights and a more informed perspective. Besides, critical examination helps you develop a more mature understanding of complex situations.
• Improves communication skills : Strong writing skills contribute to effective communication. Regular essay writing hones one’s ability to convey thoughts clearly and effectively. In fact, this point is scientifically proven. Essay writing helps individuals learn how to express their ideas in a structured, coherent, and persuasive manner.
• Facilitates emotional healing : We cannot emphasize this point enough. Writing about personal experiences, especially traumatic ones, can be therapeutic. Yes, you read that right. Putting emotions into words helps people process and make sense of their experiences.
• Encourages mindfulness : Writing promotes mindfulness, or present-moment awareness, and its associated qualities of calm/relaxation, nonjudgment, and intentionality. The focus required in essay writing can promote mindfulness. By concentrating on the present moment and the task of articulating thoughts, you can experience a calming effect, reducing anxiety and enhancing your overall mental health.
• Strengthens problem-solving abilities : Students’ problem-solving skill is heavily influenced by the learning process in the classroom. Essays often explore solutions to problems. They can involve real-world problems that trigger learning and optimize the power of problems to incorporate key learning processes. This aspect requires writers to think strategically about possible solutions, weighing pros and cons and considering outcomes.

Improve Your Writing Skills

For students, most of your assessments are done through writing. You will be asked to write essays for assignments and exams in most study areas. Accordingly, knowing how to write well is suitable for your grades. But there are other personal benefits as well. It can be a tool for personal growth and self-reflection. Essay writing can transform your understanding of yourself and the world around you.

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