Resilience Reflection

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As explored in my previous reflection, I will continue to follow Craig Gilner’s journey in It’s Kind of a Funny Story as it relates to adolescence and resilience. With adolescence being a time of transition and adjustment, resilience is incredibly important for one’s mental health and wellbeing (Arnett, 2018). The term resilience refers to one’s ability to healthily cope with challenges (Arnett, 2018). One’s gender identity may influence the strategies one ultimately adopts, or society expects to adopt, through externalization or internalization. Despite it being easy to assume that one is superior to the other, both have the potential of promoting and denying growth. To externalize or internalize a problem means to direct the problem inward …show more content…

To elaborate, society expects males to externalize their problems and females to internalize their problems (Arnett, 2018). Coupled with such assumptions may be the underlying motivations of socializing young boys to be aggressive and protective while young girls to be passive and obedient (LaMarre, 2018). Though this socialization is shifting, such traditional expectations have not disappeared (LaMarre, 2018). The Canadian Mental Health Association suggests that one barrier for males seeking help is the notion that mental health issues are weaknesses, and thus non-masculine (“Men and Mental Illness”). The Healthy Place termed this belief as one needing to “man up” (Barton, 2017). Nevertheless, such stigma has led to projects like the Good Men Project, with the hopes of changing the conversation. Moreover, they suggest that we think we know what it means to be a good man, when truly, we don’t (“The Good Men Project”). Having this conversation and providing males the space they need to simply be themselves, challenges what is considered normal for a man or woman and ultimately allows society to move …show more content…

Undoubtedly, Craig is not violent, nor does he engage in anger, violence or self-harm. The closest he gets to externalizing his problems occurs when he considers jumping off Brooklyn Bridge, though he never actually carries out this act (Vizzini, 2015). One may argue this makes him more feminine than masculine, however, the whole motivation behind keeping his insecurities and vulnerabilities to himself could simply be to seem stronger and more capable to others. If no one knows he is struggling or having difficulties in his day to day life, then no one would think of him as being less of a man than say, for example, Aaron or Bobby. The book discusses how Craig was extremely concerned that his friends would find out he was in Six North because it would imply that he had problems and is thus not living up to the standard of an ideal man (LaMarre, 2018; Vizzini, 2015). In addition to this, it would also imply he is open about his problems, which should not be there in the first place, and connects with others. For Aaron or Bobby, this may seem out of character, but for Craig, it is normal. Generally speaking, it is almost like he is operating on his own set of standards and regardless of what society says, he will continue living his life the way he chooses to live it- at first hesitantly, but later

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