2nd Presentation Bryan Mena

    This was going to be my second presentation for my speech class and I was confident that I would do a better job than the first time. I originally signed up for public speaking in hope of getting over the anxious barrier and after I did my first presentation, I was starting to see that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. When my group and I got our second topic, which was mental health, we split up each section into little pieces. I was given the part on how to stay connected regarding mental health and how to stay connected to my community and society. I was still in Group 2 with Chanel, Bryan, Gabriel, and Dylan. Still having Chanel as our leader was extremely relaxing and she always motivates us to make sure we finish our work before the due date and makes sure everything is organized. After we all divided our sections and what everyone was going to do, we all knew to get started.

    The subject that I had to talk about, as previously stated, was ways to stay connected regarding mental health. This was an important topic to discuss and present to the class because this can help bring important information forward to the class and I did not want to mess up this opportunity. One of the ways to stay connected is by calling a hotline and talking to a professional. When you have an immediate line to help support yourself regarding mental health, this is extremely important, amazing, and extremely beneficial. If you are ever thinking about harming yourself, you should call a hotline regardless if you think it is for an unimportant reason. Another way to stay connected is making friends and going out with them. Meeting new people with similar interests as you is an amazing way to change your mind and distract yourself. Finally, attending interventions may also be extremely beneficial. Talking to a group of people that may be experiencing the same thing that you are, may be a learning experience and they may help soothe what you may be thinking.

    The other subject I had to talk about was ways to stay connected regarding your community and society. The most important way to stay connected to society is through social media. You can use social media to connect with other people that may have similar interests as you. This is beneficial because you can make a little friend group where everyone thinks the same. Not only can you use social media to meet people, but you can use social media to stay in touch with the latest trends and what is going on around the world. Another way to stay connected to society is by reaching out to peers and running errands with them. Running errands with peers is an amazing way to stay connected with society because they may have a different opinion on something and in the long run can help you further understand the topic of discussion and get your brain flowing and distracted. Finally, to conclude ways to stay connected to your society is building bridges with everyone. There are 4 important topics within building bridges. Making social connections a priority is important to build bridges. You know you need to schedule time for exercise, but you should also schedule time for friends. It's easy to get caught up in day-to-day responsibilities and lose touch with others. Don't allow that to happen. Make it a point to call, email, or meet up with friends or family members on a regular basis. 

    

Next, paying attention to your mental health is extremely important. Some people become more socially isolated because they're suffering from depression. For many people experiencing late-life depression, talk therapy can be very effective, so you may not even need medication to treat it. To continue, considering getting a roommate may also help build bridges. You can link to them regarding music taste, understanding their sense of style and both of you guys may even have the same hobbies. To continue as stated previously, take upon a new hobby. Common interests between friend groups help create bonds which is extremely important because you never know when you will need those bonds and connections. Some ways to get involved in taking up hobbies are if you enjoy reading, join a book club. Group exercise classes are also a great way to connect with others and on top of that being fit is extremely important for your mental health and staying intact with your body and what your body is telling you.

    While working with my group, I learned how to properly communicate with them and how much teamwork can impact the whole presentation. Communication is key when working with a group that you may not know. We ran into some issues because some people in our group weren’t going to be in class on a certain day, so we had to push our presentation back a couple of days which was a good thing because we were able to add final touches on our presentation and how we were going to present to the class.

    At last, it was the day the whole group was anticipating. I will admit that we were anxious about going in front of the whole class but that happens during your first couple of times presenting. Everyone always gets those “butterflies in your stomach”, even the best public speakers. Personally, I feel like we could have done a better job with our transitions between each other and a proper introduction if we were available before to practice but everyone was busy, and we could not all meet at once. I honestly learned a lot about how to read the audience and effective ways to speak publicly. I also learned effective ways to stay connected regarding mental health and ways to stay connected to my community and society. We first started with Laura introducing us. Chanel was the first one to start presenting and at first, I was anxious, but by the time it was my turn I was confident that I would do a good job, it became secondhand nature. From there on, every single person in my group did a fantastic job in delivering their presentation. In conclusion, it was an amazing experience to present in front of the class for the first time and to learn about effective ways to stay connected regarding mental health and ways to stay connected to my community and society.