So, as I’ve mentioned, we’re currently doing a unit in Health and Career. One of our assignments for this, my favourite so far, involved creating a keynote presentation entitled “The Things I Carry”.

The idea of this presentation is that each person comes up with ten physical or mental things that they carry with them that affect their daily life or who they are.

My ten things were as follows:

1. Headphones
2. Phone
3. Creativity
4. Privilege/opportunity
5. Fan culture/pop culture
6. Anxieties/insecurities
7. Introversion
8. Work ethic
9. Words/language
10. Sense of humour

I don’t really have a lot of physical things that I carry with me at all times, so I focussed more on the mental side of things.

Here’s my keynote:

I started off with talking about the physical things I carry with me, beginning with my headphones.

I go through a lot of headphones, mostly because I lose or break them from using them all the time. While I had considered just putting music down as one of the things I carry, music is only a part of what my headphones represent. I carry headphones with me a lot of the time because they act as a source of privacy even when I’m out in public. As someone who finds it draining to spend too much time around a lot of people, having a small source of privacy makes me feel a lot better when I get stressed or tired out.

What I use my headphones for subdivides into the categories of music and videos. While I can often be found listening to my favourite song, whatever’s stuck in my head at the moment, or a song I’ve recently started listening to, I also spend a lot of time watching YouTube, and doing so has provided me with a lot of useless information, entertainment, and even a few role models.

The other physical thing I carry with me is my phone. I don’t spend a lot of time on my phone, at least in comparison to the stereotypical teenager, largely due to the fact that I use my iPad for a lot of things. However, I usually bring my phone with me if I’m going somewhere, because I need the ability to communicate with my parents or friends, and because it’s useful as a camera and as a way to get or store information.

One of the mental things I carry with me is my creativity, which manifests itself in a variety of ways: playing piano, drawing, singing, writing, and making the occasional hat, candle or doll dress. Being creative has always been a big part of who I am, and I enjoy being able to look back on the things that I have created over the years.

The next thing that I carry with me is one that I had trouble putting a word to, but I eventually decided on “privilege”. A lot of the things in my life, such as where I live, the opportunity to go to school, my family, my community, or the amount of travelling I’ve been able to do, are things I didn’t choose or earn in any way, but which have ended up being big, usually postitive, influences on my life.

One of the things I carry with me is fan culture, or pop culture, and this is something that ties in to a lot of the other things I carry with me. There are a lot of areas of pop culture that appeal to and influence me, the prevalent ones being YouTube, music, books, movies and TV. The things that I’m a fan of are often an inspiration for my creative outlets; for instance, this drawing that I did.

Something that I carry with me that isn’t quite so positive is my anxieties and fears. These are mostly basic things: Am I doing well at school? Do I look okay? Am I saying something offensive without realizing it? Am I making good choices? Even the most basic of fears, however, can still be a big part of one’s life, and these daily fears and anxieties are definitely a big part of mine. However, like everyone else, I do my best to accept or overcome them.

The next thing I carry with my is my introversion, which I’ve seen viewed as a negative thing before, but I personally think can be positive, and has had a lot of positive effects on my life. I like to spend time alone, which gives me a chance to do the things that I enjoy, such as writing, or focus on the things I need to do, such as doing homework. Being introverted has also made me independent, which can often be useful or important.

My work ethic is something that I’ve carried with me for as long as I can remember. I feel a strong need to do well at everything I do, or at least to do the best I can, and if I don’t put my best effort in, I don’t feel satisified with the end result. This is something that helps me attain goals, as well as learn new skills or learn about new topics.

One thing that I carry with me is my love of words and language. I enjoy learning about the structure or etymology of words, as well as wordplay and puns. I also like reading and writing a lot, and I find it easier to express myself through the written word than I do just through speaking.

The last thing I carry with me is my sense of humour, which is composed mostly of puns, pop cultural references, sarcasm, self-deprecation, irony and memes. My sense of humour is something that seems to annoy or confuse a lot of people, but it’s something that helps me communicate or connect with the people around me.

The things that I carry with me might change over the years, and they have changed throughout my life, but they will always be a part of who I am.

Toodles!