When I was 13, my dad made me spend the entire summer reading Dale Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends and Influence People” (please feel bad for me). I don’t know if many of you are familiar with it, but the book covers how to establish a strong relationship with people and how to make yourself a better, more effective and overall more influential person in society. Additionally, I took a Health Science and Psychology course in high school that focused on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Both of those experiences combined basically encompass everything she touched on about self-actualization and social relationships. That being said, I still really enjoyed the workshop. I’m borderline obsessed with social psych and introspection in psychology and it’s always interesting to see how others react to different experiences, and I thought this this was a good bonding activity for us as a class because I learned a little bit more about everyone on a more personal and sincere level. So even though I wasn't challenged to think in a way that I haven’t before, I liked how I got to observe others and discuss personal details.
(Edit: After thinking about this for a few minutes, I realized that I am glad that my dad made me read that book. As an eighth grader, I didn't see why finding a passion was necessary for a fulfilling life. I was just into skinny jeans and eyeliner and didn't think that I needed to worry about how my social relationships affected my lifestyle or whether or not I was happy going along with my daily routine. I now see that ever since reading that book, everything I do impacts my life in some way even if it isn't immediately noticeable. My pre-med class only furthered that mindset, and Sarah Jilling's workshop made it more realistic because now, more than ever, I have ultimate control over what I really want to spend my time doing, and how I want it to affect my lifestyle. So I retract what I said earlier about not getting anything out of the workshop, that was stupid.)