NLCS Jeju - Wellbeing Wonderings

wellbeing wonderings February 2021 | Issue 9

Student Welfare Awareness Group

NEW MEMBERS With five new admitted members, the SWAG is ready to work for another great year with a new team!

STRESS RELIEF Academic pressure and conflicts in relationships cause us stress. What are some unique ways to relieve our stress?

CORONA BLUES It's been a year since COVID started, and social distancing has now become the norm.

What is "corona blues" and how can we deal with it?

Dear NLCS Jeju, Sincerely, SWAG EUNICE LEE (Y12)

Dear NLCS Jeju, Happy 2021!

We hope you all had a safe and enjoyable Lunar New Year with your family and friends! It was around this time of the year when the pandemic started affecting our lives in 2020, but we managed to persevere through, finding alternative routes to jump over each hurdle. While we are in hopes that this too shall pass -- preferably as soon as possible -- we believe that each of you will still find your way amidst these challenges just like you’ve been doing so far. The SWAG promises to work with you especially in these hard times, whether it’s opening up a fun event or engaging with you through a private talk session!

The SWAG would like to introduce you to our whole team with new members of 2021: Eunice Yewon Lee (Y12) Erin Yoonseo Lee (Y12) Melanie Minjae Kang (Y12) Jason Dong Gun Lee (Y11) Yuri Lee (Y11) Shona Hyun Park (Y10) Regis Seungwon Yang (Y10) Brandon Suk-Joon Yoon (Y10)

For those of you who are still unsure of what SWAG is, we are the Student Welfare Awareness Group in charge of ensuring your welfare by tackling multiple issues such as but not limited to mental health, bullying, relationships, and academic pressure. Over the past couple of years, we have been organizing weekly lunchtime wellness activities, holding campaigns regarding mental health awareness and acceptance of diversity, cooperating with school committees and productions to promote messages of inclusion, initiating academic programs offered by some of our sharp-minded senior students, building links between the junior and senior school, and much more.

We have many more plans this year so get excited!

As the Big 8 Student Welfare Ambassador and new chair of SWAG, I would also like to formally thank everyone for supporting us and promoting welfare in our school community as powerful individuals!

Please enjoy the following pieces of work by our members! We’ve carefully selected interesting and relevant topics to start your halfterm :) Sincerely, SWAG

It’s been a while since you’ve seen everyone in school. You stare at screens for no end, listening to the teacher drone on as you fight

What, Honestly was 2020?

distractions that are everywhere—your laptop bookmarks, the kakaotalk notifications that pop up on your screen, the lure of a whole world waiting for you if you just move the cursor a bit upwards.

What I’m getting at is that Online Learning is hard. Not just hard, but frustrating. It’s stressful to stay in your house all day, not to mention having to pay attention to the classes that fly past without really feeling like you are learning something.

REGIS YANG (Y10) Covid-19 is a thing that happened to all of us.

There isn’t a single person left unaffected by the sudden pandemic, and unless you’re Elon Musk, 2020 probably hasn't been the best of times for you.

"We should find our own ways to stay in the moment, and really live, even if we can only do that at home."

But what we sometimes forget to remember is that it has been a period of chaos and twitter doom-scrolling for everyone on this planet. We have all been in this together, and this collective history-changing experience isn’t one that occurs every year.

If you are reading this as a student of NLCS Jeju, you know that we’re the privileged, the affluent, and even if you might not want to

Anxiety about the number of covid patients

admit it, our problems and worries are

and the paranoia around anyone who dares to

incomparable to those of the less fortunate.

cough in a public space constantly worsens as

(Well, I don’t want to use the word ‘fortunate’

Coronavirus refuses to die down, and more

there, because it implies that luck has a hand

and more people are experiencing the common

in the systemic oppression of the poor, while it

symptoms of depression.

really doesn’t.)

So yeah. 2020 has not been the best of times Our worst problems are homework, university

for our mental health, or even our physical

acceptances and inventing a love life. Not to

wellbeing. But it did teach us important things

say these are not problems, they are. Really.

about humans as a whole. We are social

But what we have to understand is that

beings. Even those who would have casually

Covid-19 has, along with many other things,

discarded the saying before the pandemic feel

forcibly pushed the problems that existed in

it in their bones after this prolonged period of

the dark corners of our society into the

isolation. It also taught us to recognize the

spotlight. The death of George Floyd and the

reasons and the triggers behind our anxiety,

Black Lives Matter movement, numerous

in many cases the virus itself, but also

governments failing to tackle the virus, crises

stressful conditions at school or with

in Yemen and other middle east countries.

friendship.

Covid-19 has turned our view from the trivial messes of our lives outwards to the entire

As the quarantine continues well past 2021

world, making 2020 for many teenagers the

and most probably will be ever-present, we

first year to regularly keep up with the World

need to be aware of the effect that it has on

News.

our bodies and minds. And we need to learn how to cope, such as listening to music or

It also brought on the ‘corona blues’, as

exercising at home. If we are to continue with

dubbed by the Korean media, referring to a

Online Learning, we should find our own ways

state of depression caused by the isolation

to stay in the moment, and really live, even if

and the loneliness due to prolonged

we can only do that at home.

quarantine.

The Menagerie of Miscellaneous Mortals

BRANDON YOON (Y10)

This is Miguel.

Miguel is a salamander belonging to the family Ambystomatidae, otherwise known as axolotls.

Their name sounds like a brand of toothpaste that you’d find in the corner of a dollar store, but they were in fact named after xolotl, the aztec god of fire and lighting. Which is weird, because these fondant rolls with eyes seldom leave the water. And by seldom I mean never. They never leave the water.

This is because axolotls are all bebes. Axolotls display a process called neoteny, where they reach sexual maturity without going through metamorphosis. This is why they still have those frilly frilly gill things called Rami behind their head. It Resembles a lovechild of a Victorian wig and a bad decision made by a punk teenager. I told you it was just a phase. Only that instead of hair, it's parts of their respiratory system hanging out. Rami effectively increases surface area to take in more oxygen.

The process of neoteny can be found in all salamander species that inhabit water bodies in mountains and hills, and is thought to be a survival mechanism, as it allows them to reproduce faster with lower quality/quantity of food. This is achieved by a lack of thyroid-stimulating hormones, which prevent their body from growing. This process can be stopped with a consumption of sufficient Iodine. It can be consumed through iodine-rich foods or Cannibalism.

Imagine having to eat your classmates just to get your body to grow up.

That is how the axolotl does.

Contrary to popular belief, axolotls are not blind. This does not mean that they have the eyesight of an eagle, no. More like from ‘I don’t know if I'm dead or not’ to ‘ah yes. The weather is quite bright out today’.

Axolotls are also known for their ability of regeneration, being able to regrow limbs, tails, gill fronds and in extreme cases their central nervous system and parts of the brain.They’re like wolverine, but if wolverine was a smiling pink marshmallow with limbs and frilly frilly gill things. It can also easily receive limb and organ transplants from other axolotls without any complications whatsoever. This is done due to the axolotl’s ability to pull their own immune system an Uno reverse card, regulating macrophage levels and intensity of immune responses given towards the foreign organs. And you know as a fact that the body cannot perform any immune responses without your absolute consent.

It's common for axolotl owners to find their aquatic play-dough creatures choking on their bedding, sometimes even constipated with gravel and sand. This is because axolotls ingest their food with the substrate. Now if you’ve (ever eaten a piece of lunch that fell on the ground because of the 5 second rule just to realise it was weirdly crunchy since it was covered in dirt and gravel and is now disgusting, you might be wondering.) a normal human being, you might know that the floor (doesn’t taste all that great) Tastes pretty damn disgusting and may be wondering.

‘That’s pretty gross ngl’ But the way axolotls eat are a bit different than how we do. By closing their gill slits, it creates a vacuum within their mouths, sucking everything in the vicinity of their jaws. Food, gravel, a bypassing fish, sadness, etc. Having a vacuum for a mouth isn’t all that great.

Sadly, these derpy amphibians are listed as critically endangered due to the rapid urbanization of their habitats- the waters where axolotls once lived were polluted, and invasive species of fish such as tilapia and perch created competition for food as well as consuming their young. By 2010, axolotls were virtually extinct in their natural habitat until 2013, a pair of them were found in the city of Xochimilco, no it is not a city of chocolate dairy products, and the government of Mexico is working on creating sanctuaries for them to thrive in. Just imagine a lake full of these healing factor-bearing mudpuppies. Adorable.

That’s all for the facts; now a few final words from our friend Miguel. .

Miguel believes in you.

He knows that you will achieve everything you want.

Miguel knows that you are trying your best.

Miguel wishes you a good day, and only for good things to come your way.

Eighteen Adults ERIN LEE (Y12)

Eighteen - the age of majority of our year 12 and 13s. At the same time, such an age is when some young people make transitions to adulthood to set their own lives. This is to say that these people are no longer allowed to be sheltered.

These people, who are at the age of 18 in orphanages, are often referred to as “terminated youths.” Under the Korean government guidelines, orphans aged above 18 are no longer allowed to be sheltered in the orphanage they grew up. Only with the initial settling fee of 3,000,000 ~ 5,000,000 won provided by the government, they should look for a house to live, feed themselves, and supplement their basic amenities. Studies have shown that most of the terminated youths lack immediate solution to satisfy their current needs. Obviously, the settling fee is nowhere near enough to stabilize themselves. Some of these children have spent almost their entire lives in these orphanages and they are bound to leave their hometown.

Majority of the orphan graduates skip university education and instead directly find their position to work to earn money. Therefore, the highschool orphans carry out part-time jobs whilst getting education at the same time to prepare for their life afterwards.

Since they have nowhere to rely on from such a young age, these terminated youths noticeably struggle in handling monetary issues, human interaction or management skills in this period of emerging adulthood. This age period is often marked by high uncertainty and instability as young people experience changes to their roles in the society. Yet, since these orphan graduates lack the opportunities for selfexploration and support networks, it leads to heavy risks and greater instability. Bearing the responsibilities of managing personal finances and needs, many cite stress, confusion and loneliness right after their termination.

In workplaces, the problem gets more severe. Terminated youths share an anxiety in having to navigate an unfamiliar situation of legal paperwork and cost considerations with limited moral and physical support. Moreover, there are common stigmas or labels attached to these orphan graduates when they reach out to the society. In some cases, it was discovered that an orphan's status as an ‘orphan’, or ‘terminated youth’ constituted one of the main reasons for why their job application was rejected. Some employers even refuse to legally register them as employees once they learn about their background status.

Hence, they end up doing simple labour or menial works.

These children need proper adult guidance before they become citizens who act in accordance with the expectations in their communities. Yet, the current circumstances are extremely rigid and thereby at least the situation might improve if public endorsement increases and sensitization about these children’s situations be initiated. These could reduce the children’s experiences of being “different” in the society, constantly exposed to survival anxieties. The NGO called “The Beautiful Foundation” have been campaigning for these terminated youths within its own media channels and charity work, so please find out their website if you are interested. There are some accessible documentaries such as ‘Eighteen, Out to world’ created by EBS Documentary so you could also check that out in Youtube as well.

INFERIORITY COMPLEX WRITTEN BY. MELANIE KANG Y12 Self-esteem is a person’s overall sense of self-worth or personal value. This raises a question to everyone:

How much do you appreciate yourself?

Healthy self-esteem can aid you to navigate life with a positive and optimistic attitude and believe you can accomplish your goals.

On the other hand, people with unhealthy self-esteem encapsulates intense feelings of inadequacy, resulting in extreme shyness, self-isolation, or social submissiveness. When this advances, this feeling often stems from the belief that one is some way deficient or inferior to virtually all others.

This is called the Inferiority Complex, in other words, chronic low self-esteem. Inferiority Complex is known to be mostly rooted from worksites, schools, or in-home in relationships with siblings, where we measure up ourselves and feel comparably incompetent for not performing well or for not being wellsituated in life than others. For most of these people, these feelings of insecurity and insufficiency are highly situational or occasional.

Amy Flowers, PhD, a cognitive -behavioural therapist in private practice in Macon, Georgia. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.” As disappointments mount, you become more discouraged and more vulnerable to being biased against yourself due to the deeply rooted cycle. The result is a pervasive feeling of being “less than” across most aspects of life: psychological, intellectual, social, and physical.These are some of the signs that you may find in life: if you feel applicable to a majority of these details, this would be a great chance to reflect yourself.

01

01 Extreme sensitivity towards other people’s opinions.

Is there anything more upsetting than other people talking about you? You might feel overly sensitive about other people’s opinions of you, to the point that it affects your every action.

02 Constructive criticism is particularly hard for you.

You can’t take any sort of constructive criticism well. But healthy criticism is good for everyone. We all need to hear certain things that can help us become better people. However, you just can’t stand people telling you you’re wrong.

03 You want to be flattered all the time.

In fact, you go out of your way so you can get flattered. Being told that you’re great gives you an unbelievable high. You rely on these words of praise so much, that when you don’t get them, you feel unworthy.

04 You’re constantly comparing yourself to other people.

This is one of the most telltale signs of inferiority complex. You just can’t help but keep comparing yourself to others. You always think you’re not as successful, or not as physically attractive, or not as popular.

Inferiority complex arouses constant tension to one’s mental and physical status, which lead to cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions are thoughts patterns that erode self-esteem. This cycle will repeat itself until we take a step forward.

According to the Mayo Clinic, these include(Genefe Navilon, 2018) *This is an additional link to a self-evaluating self-esteem test* https://psychologia.co/self-esteem-test/

02

01 You have to deal with your past and tackle difficult emotional memories.

Are there one or more instances in the past when you felt particularly traumatized by feeling inferior to something or someone? Who do you really feel inferior to? You have to look into the deeper reason behind your inferiority complex. Understanding these layers can help you find the root of your problem. And once you understand your feelings better, you can take the necessary steps to overcome them.

02 You need to be kind to yourself.

Practising self-compassion might be the hardest thing to do for a person like you. You’re always the first to think badly of yourself. But try to be kind, anyway. Practice self-care.

And not just to your mind. But to your body and soul as well. Eat healthier food. Practice meditation. Go out and enjoy the things that you love doing. Take care of your needs, and hopefully, everything else will get easier.

03 Try to surround yourself with people who uplift you.

Do you have any toxic relationships? Then you need to cut them. Yes, even if it means they’re with your closest family members or friends. In fact, the inferiority complex can mostly be linked to difficult parenting or challenging circumstances while we grow up.

Instead, choose the kind of relationships that make you feel good. Be with the people who make you feel that you’re enough. You will notice a big change in your life.

04 Learn to say no and practice the art of “silence.”

You want to please people so much that you never say no to them. But you should. It might be hard for you, especially with your extreme desire to want to prove yourself. But saying “no” is another form of self-care. Don’t do anything that is not helpful or enjoyable to you just so other people might like you. In addition, you don’t always have to tell everyone everything just to seek validation. This only distracts you from focusing on yourself. Instead, learn to appreciate the art of being silent. It doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to people, but you also don’t need their validation to make yourself feel better.

03

05 Talk to yourself better.

Do you berate yourself a lot? The way we mentally “talk” to ourselves affect how we communicate outside of it. Learn to have an inner voice that encourages you as worthy. When do you “negatively self-talk?” Try to change it and cultivate an inner voice that affirms your strengths instead of negating them.

06 Embrace what makes you different.

Instead of trying to conform to society’s ill-conceived images of happiness or success, learn to embrace your authentic self. So what if you’re a little different? Who cares? There’s a difference between knowing what you want to do as opposed to knowing what you think society wants you to do.

"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." - Buddha

04

Sleep deprivation is a common phenomenon among the students.

However, most students do not recognize the importance of sleep and how it will affect their long term well being. In order to sustain their wellbeing and balance life, a regular sleep routine is necessary.

South Korea is one of the countries in the OECD, holding one of the shortest average teenage sleep hours. At the same time, we have one of the highest teenage melancholiac.

Students, including myself, often cram the knowledge a day or a week before the exam. Studying all night long a day before the exam definitely is not a good strategy to cope with exams. Although the tactic sometimes works fine, it has been approved by many specialists that you can not conjugate your maximum ability on the task if you don’t sleep enough.

Sleep deprivation deteriorates the basic performance of students from academic performance to relationship with others. Tenneagers often sacrifice sleep to achieve their immediate goal - Exam Cramming, School homework, Video games, etc. However, during sleep, the brain undergoes very important procedures which would impact a lot especially to the teenatgers. The time interval between 10 :00 to 2 :00 is when the rate of growth hormone secretion is at its peak. In order to fully secrete the hormone in a given hour, teenagers should sleep before 10:00, yet most middle school and high school students are not considering taking it. Sleep not only impacts physical growth.

During sleep, the brain undertakes the process to combine new knowledge and eliminate the unnecessary parts. Thus, the longer we sleep, the more knowledge can be acquired. Sleep is also very important in terms of emotional control. The insomnia or sleep deprivation can fluctuate one’s emotion and acuminate their sense, which aggravates their mental health and provokes stress. The fluctuation in emotion accompanied by the physical tiredness can potentially make the relatives very painful and stressful as well, as the negative influence gets transmitted.

How can sleep deprivation be resolved?

The simple answer is to begin to sleep early from today. Though sleep deprivation and overall tiredness can not be improved immediately, the longer sleep duration definitely could improve students concentration and overall process in studying.

Sleep is not a trivial task that we can procrastinate. Sleep is the key to initiate a balanced life and to maintain the long term beginning. Sleep contains far more amazing power than you expect. The sleep has the power to change your day.

Depression in the Elderly

Yuri Lee (Y11)

Depression is more than just feeling sad or blue. It is a common but serious mood disorder that needs treatment. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, and working. There are several types of depression: dep persistent depressive disorder, psychotic depression, postpartum depression, and seasonal affective disorder.

Doctors call the condition of being depressed as “depressive disorder” or “clinical depression”. It is not an ordinary problem in ageing. However, important life changes that happen as we get older may cause feelings of uneasiness, stress and sadness.

During Covid-19 pandemic, the percentage of older adults who suffer from depression has increased. Forty-three percent of adults age 60 and older olde in the U.S. have reported feeling lonely. The lockdown brought loneliness because of not meeting friends or family, the decreased physical activity that was associated with more symptoms of poor mental health, especially depression.

“Covid-19 can result in psychological issues due to both pandemic stress st and the physical effects of the disease,” says Brittany LeMonda, PhD, a senior neuro psychologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include: • Feeling sad or having a depressed mood • Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed • Changes in appetite - weight loss or o gain unrelated to dieting • Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much • Loss of energy or increased fatigue • Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still, pacing, hand-wringing) or o slowed movement or speech (these actions must be severe enough to be observable by others) • Feeling worthless or guilty • Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions • Thoughts of death or suicide There are a number of things people can do to help reduce the symptoms of depression. For many people, regular exercise helps create positive feelings and improves mood. Getting enough quality sleep on a regular basis, eating a healthy diet and avoiding alcohol (a depressant) can also help reduce symptoms of depression. Depression is a real illness and help is available.

With proper diagnosis and treatment, the vast majority of people with depression will overcome it. If you are experiencing symptoms of depression, dep a first step is to see your family physician or psychiatrist. Talk about your concerns and request a thorough evaluation. This is a start to addressing your mental health needs.

Define It Yourself Shona Park (Y10) We are always placed in two different paths in our lives, that never seem to meet in the end but branch out into their own infinite ways. But we can easily guess the outcomes as we put our thoughts into our acts. Some might call this indolence versus preparedness, but the truth is that neither of them conveys negativity. Whether it is mind over matter or matter over mind we decide for ourselves which we think is the best for us. For instance, when you are just about to inflate due to work overload yet you still have another few upcoming tests or assignments that are required of you. Either you can take anothe nice long hours of sleep for your rehabilitation or you can work on the assignment although you slowly feel your brain on lock mode. The thing is there is no conclusive answer. Whether you decide to coll your brain down or activate your brain, you, yourself will know the outcome and you,yourself will be responsible for the aftermath. Placing the dependent variable as the effectiveness, you are the independent variable, meaning, it differs from people. After taking a long sleep you might be able to effectively concentrate on the work for fo a shorter period of time while doing the exact same amount of work. Or continuing to activate your brain will keep up the study pace and won’t break your balance in work. Since in all circumstances, choosing the leading path differentiates from each individual, what exactly is wellbeing? How can we know what is the ultimate best decision for ourselves?

Wellbeing seems like a heavily loaded word that is easily thrown anywhere in various situations. We label the word “wellbeing” as something that fits everyone like a lock and a key. ke However, wellbeing is multidimensional. It cannot simply be defined but rather be interpreted different according to the innate attribute that the person varries within themselves. Being in a state of well-being is very most considered fundamentally significant since it is what makes us exhilarated on a regular daily basis and to feel a sense of satisfaction with our lives. Teenage students who tend to be in a state of finding their true selves, sometimes lost in their own thoughts and wander endlessly, often can be referred to as a miserable creature, need to know their limits, tendency, and potentials and balance them out before befo stepping into the adult world. Luckily we are beyond privileged to have a supportive school that is structured upon the wellbeings of the students which we are able to seek help in reaching the zone where we feel secured and actually get to enjoy small things in our lives.

So the next time when you come across the thought of “am I truly happy” or “what is the point of living” which seems to appear a lot in our heads during the pandemic and lonely social distancing life, question yourself on your own definition of wellbeing. You have nothing to fear fea but yourself when it comes to your state of well-being because you are the one and only judge of what works best for you. So define it yourself.

Magazine Design: Amy Yeobin Han (Y12), Jeslyn Seojung Park (Y11), Bella Yoon Kim (Y13)

SWAG