We are pleased to introduce you to Ciara, our first guest blogger on the Anthesis Blog. Ciara is an Anthesis participant with a passion for writing. She has her own blog which you can find here. Ciara has been a part of the Anthesis Transition Program since July of 2019. The Transition Program at Anthesis focuses on person-centered planning to assist individuals in achieving their personal goals. It provides community-based support through participation in community integrated activities as well as providing both job and career training for individuals. As a participant in the Transition Program Ciara has a coach who provides the support and tools, she needs to explore her self-identified goal of becoming a writer. Ciara’s coach has helped her work towards her goal by helping her register for creative writing classes – first at a community centers and recently at her local community college. We invite your read Ciara’s post and see her writing skills first-hand.
“Although the year 2020 has been a whirlwind for many of us at Anthesis since COVID happened in the beginning of the year; I have had the opportunity to experience new things that I never would have been able to experience otherwise! The year may have started out on a bad note for many of us: from not being able to see our friends at the program or not being able to see any of the job coaches who help us throughout our days, but things will get better.
In the beginning of March, my Mother had to endure being furloughed, which meant she wouldn’t be working for the time being— that was extremely stressful and put a damper on things, but eventually we learned that not everything will always be in someone else’s favor. I’ve been extremely busy with school, I attend Chaffey College and even though the classes are online, I’ve been excelling in them and I feel that it is a strong suit of mine. The class I just finished towards my AA Degree was English 1B and I ended up receiving a “B’ out of it. If you work hard and are disciplined anything is possible!
Since we started doing the program virtually, I have really enjoyed everything that we’ve been doing with Vanessa. On Mondays, we watch YouTube videos and we do watercolor painting. This is something that I really enjoy doing because it helps me keep calm and I am able to enjoy myself while painting—even if I’m not the best artist, it is still something I enjoy and it makes me happy. On Tuesdays, we do yoga for an hour. I’ve enjoyed doing yoga as well because they have different ones throughout YouTube. I tend to stick to the ones involving anxiety and depression since I suffer from those as well. On Wednesdays, we cook through Zoom and I’ve learned to make some extremely yummy things. I enjoy doing cooking through Zoom because we’re in the comfort of our own home, but yet I can still visit and talk with everyone in my group. On Thursdays, we watch YouTube videos— normally Ted Talks which I enjoy listening to because some of them are very informative. We also watch videos on overcoming anxiety and strengthening your mental health. On Fridays, we watch movies and we have a discussion about them over Zoom as well. I also enjoy watching these movies and discussing about them afterwards because the majority of the time I always learn a great lesson from the movies.
Overall, I have really enjoyed how the program has been going lately. We get to experience things we never would’ve gotten to experience had this pandemic not happened in the first place. It’s been a great opportunity to learn and grow from doing everything that we’ve been doing each week.”
For anyone interested in reading more of Ciara’s work, go to writing-by-ciara.tumblr.com.