James's Notebook

               A major challenge that I had in life was gaining the ability to speak. When I was young, at first, I was not able to speak. This was because my brain needed more time to develop. I had to take years of occupational therapy. After I had occupational therapy I also had to learn about self control and discipline. Once I learned those skills, I gained control over what I will say and what I can do in life.

I've noticed that during these challenging times that it is difficult to remain calm, what I usually do to help remedy this is by reducing my stress levels and being productive. How I could do this is by first noticing my stress levels then I would do a guided meditation which will help me be more at peace with myself which will then help me clear my mind from unwanted stress which will then in turn reduce my stress levels. following this I will begin asking myself what skills would I like to learn and in what ways could they improve and benefit myself in life, for example I could catch up on my reading, learn how to become a water safety instructor, and many other things too, by keeping myself calm and productive I have learned that I could be able to take charge of myself and my outlook on life.

Following the challenges of being social, at times it is difficult for me to identify sarcasm. The one thing that I have noticed about this challenge is that not everyone recognizes sarcasm. What I usually if I think someone is being sarcastic is that I will first listen to the tone of a person's words and watch the way their actions. After doing this I can understand the difference between what is sarcasm and humor.