Activity

I keep on going to the gym, at least 3 times a week and I keep loving it more and more everyday.
The way my body changed over the past 2 month is amazing, but the way my mind changed is even better. Today was the first time that I exercised in a tight top instead of a baggy T-shirt and I've always been too self-conscoius to do so. But now? I finally did it and it felt quite OK.
Well, I look better, I feel better and my confidence finally is at the acceptable level.
I can see the improvement I've made in the technique and length of my exercises and the satisfaction is real!
I know there's a long road ahead, but I am more excited than scared to walk it :)

Service

On 23rd of March, there was a national women's strike organized in Poland. It was called 'Black Friday'. Thousands of people gathered in major Polish cities to protest passing the law banning abortion. As a young woman and a feminist I believe in the free choice and conscious family planning, therefore I am completely against our government passing the new law.
5 minutes before the start of the stike, I showed up on the Katowice's market with a bunch of my schoolmates. At the beginning I felt a little weird, because I don't usually go to any kind of strikes or demonstrations. But this case seemed to be so important, that I decided to go, because the more of us strikes - the greater chance that they will actually listen.
The strike turned out to be a great experience and people there were incredibly engaged and really nice for others. I even took courage to make a short speech and people loved it!! I was so happy, because public speaking isn't something I do very often. Yet the whole experience inspired me and made me think that maybe diplomacy and fighting for social changes that I believe in, should be my future job.
The whole atmosphere really empowered me as a woman and from what I saw, it wasn't only my case. My classmate, Karolina, who at the beginning of the strike said 'oh I'm to ashamed to shout all the slogans, I never do that', was shouting her heart out after a couple minutes.
All in all, I am quite proud of myself and the people that went there, because with a little cost we actually made a difference and showed the strength of women in our country.

Creativity

There are several weird trend on social medias at the moment; slimes, 100 coats of nail polish, scrubbing popcorn ceiling and…. Making face masks! My skin care routine is quite extended due to my problematic type of skin, but I thought that one more face mask now and then won’t hurt me, right? The big advantage of homemade face masks is that you have full control over the ingredients and you can adjust the amounts to the effect you want to achieve, in contrary to the drug store face masks. Also, you can use recipes or create your custom mixtures and it just seems to be so much fun that I had to give it a try. I began with reading a little about the properties of different ingredients on your skin (like honey, charcoal, herbs, lemon juice, etc.) and how to mix them. From theory I went to practice and I discovered the perfect face mask for my skin! It helps to clear my acne and uniform my complexion. It is all invented by me (with a little inspiration from Instagram) and here is the recipe:

1. Brew herbs in a bowl. (I used pansy, scratch, camomile and nettle)
2. While it’s still hot, add a handful of oatmeal and stir until the oatmeal bloats.
3. Add a spoon of granulated charcoal, a spoon of honey and a little bit of lemon juice.
4. Wait until it’s no longer hot and put a thick layer on the whole face, neck and cleavage.
5. Leave for 20 minutes and wash off with warm water.

It is magical and I can’t wait to try new recipes (and invent mine) next month.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.
2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

Activity

If a couple months ago I told myself that I will be addicted to the gym, I would probably laugh for like two hours. Little did I know. This month I have been training 4 to 5 times per week and I can’t stop. I combine cardio, intervals, weight training and stretching and I keep on learning new techniques. I improve the quality of my training by learning more about it and talking with my friend who also love gym.

Physical changes of my body are really satisfying and good for my self-confidence, because I finally start to like what I see in the mirror. But my mental state after every training is definitely my favourite thing – gym is like a little therapy. I am less stressed, happier, calmer and honestly, panic attacks don’t occur as often as before I started my journey with gym.

I’m so happy that I finally found something for myself and I seriously feel that I might be a gym freak for the rest of my life.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strenghts and areas for growth
2. Demonstrate that the challenges have been undertaken and developing new skills in the process.
3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan CAS experience
4. Show commitment and perservance in CAS experience

Activity

Physical exercises have never been my favourite part of self-care routine, because I could never find a kind of sport suitable for me. I have tried swimming, horse riding, jogging, zumba and after a couple months of huge excitement; it started to bore me. The only activity that I always kinda liked was going to the gym. I’ve already had two attempts to start going there regularly but every time it was a failure. I liked going there, but doing lots and lots of cardio just to lose weight wasn’t really enjoyable after a while. In the beginning of February I spontaneously decided to give it another and last try; third time lucky, right? This time I decided to carry out this activity differently and find something I really really love at the gym.

I bought monthly gym membership and began to educate myself; before every training I spend about 20 minutes watching youtube videos and reading articles about gym exercises and how they should be done. Then I spent about 1.5 hour on exercising and implementing the knowledge I’ve gained.

I finally found the type of exercise that is literally perfect for me and this is weight training.

This month I’ve learnt three major things about gym:

• It really is addictive if you listen to what you like
• Weight lifting won’t make you look manly, because as a woman you don’t have enough testosterone to build big muscles
• You start to see the first improvements in your body after 3 weeks of regular training (and it’s SO satisfying!!!)

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strenghts and areas for growth
2. Demonstrate that the challenges have been undertaken and developing new skills in the process.
3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan CAS experience
4. Show commitment and perservance in CAS experience