I have always been inclined towards fashion styling, blogging, photography, arts, aesthetics etc. for years now, but I was always very scared of sharing it with the world so I started making excuses of time, criticism and what if’s. After talking about it to a few friends of mine, I realized that people can never unhear what you have said; so your ideas and content will continue to influence them over time. People are naturally attracted to reason and confidence, thus I decided to start creating content and regular blogging on my instagram account to keep expressing my life, talents and passion.
LO 1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.
Before I started blogging and content creating on instagram I was well aware that I was good with photography, editing, styling and writing, but deciding a niech and showing it to the world was something foreign to me. I did some research about it and got to know that to become a content creator you must say and do something novel at some level, this helped me realise that having skills or content is not enough, I also needed to present it in as creative and unique a way as possible, so it would influence and attract more audience. I started experimenting with my strengths by making reels, clicking self-portraits, posting stories about my current life and how I feel about it, this helped me learn that my presentation skills need a bit of improvement, but over time with practice my presentation of ideas got better.
LO2:Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
In the beginning one big challenge that I faced was overcoming judgements, there were times when I felt like I should not do this but I’m so grateful that my friends were always there to support me through it. Over time, this experience helped me become more confident and assertive in what I am doing, which felt very inspiring and motivating. Another challenge that I faced was updating on my account regularly, given that content creating takes a lot of time and I can’t just skip posting for a few days because I have a lot of academic work. So there were times when I had to stay up late at night to study and work on my content after school, which was very burdensome, however, I learned to manage my time. Now I feel like I have gained more experience in what I am doing which inspires me to continue it.
LO3: Demonstrate how to plan and initiate a CAS experience
Initiating this experience was quite difficult for me because I was not at all sure if I would be able to create interesting content which would attract people, but after I spontaneously started doing it I got a hold of it easily, given that It’s my passion and I already had blogging and editing skills. Also maintaining it and planning different ways to keep my followers interested was tough, I had to constantly come up with creative and trendy content to keep my engagement high. At times it was so difficult to recreate trendy reels that I ended up feeling very frustrated, however I realised that content creating and blogging is not just about hopping on trend and gaining followers but about documenting your life, reflecting your thoughts and self-expression. The experience not only helped me be confident in myself but gave me an opportunity to show my writing skills to the world and become a better writer with feedback. Like I said content creating and blogging is all about creativity so along with fashion styling reels and radom self-portraits I had to plan/do other things to make my account more interesting for which I tried writing a urdu poetries with a friend of mine, focused more on the aesthetic part of a content idea and showed my art skills. Lastly, the planning aspect of this experience is an ongoing process, and sometimes it’s challenging to come up with new ideas but it has been terrific and exciting.
LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
As I mentioned before, consistency and commitment to an experience like this is extremely important to keep your engagement high. My personal attachment to this activity helps me to stay committed and motivated even after CAS. Lastly, I believe that my commitment to this experience also made me more responsible towards all my work habits.
To conclude, this experience has been a source of my creative outlet as well as an outlet for my thoughts. It made me a confident person and a more dedicated one, it was overall a truly engaging and meaningful experience.
