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November Call For Submissions
Write for Neurodiversified
Self-congratulation: I’m early with the call for submissions this month!
Our November writing prompt:
Write about how different you were five or 10 years ago, as compared to now.
This can be in the form of:
- Writing a letter to your younger self.
- Writing a letter to a significant person in your life, describing how you’ve changed.
- Thanking someone who was instrumental in positive changes in your life.
- A description of what has worked for you to make positive changes in your life, with gentle suggestions or advice for others who may share similar experiences.
- Something completely different!
The focus of Neurodiversified is informative and well-written articles about ADHD, twice exceptionality, neurodiversity, parenting, advocacy, mental health, and education.
If you do not wish to respond to the above prompt, please feel free to submit a different story draft that follows our submission guidelines.
Attitude of Gratitude
Apparently November is also National Gratitude Month. I’m assuming this is primarily in the U.S., and other places where Thanksgiving is celebrated in November. Here in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving in October, which is around the time of Fall harvest.
Anyway, during my psychology degree, I had a keen interest in positive psychology. Truth be told, the professor whom I most admired had a keen interest, so I followed his lead.
I’ve always had a really difficult time with it. I’ve tried to practice mindfulness and gratitude journalling, but I have not yet been able to make it a regular habit.
I also have a real issue with toxic positivity and giving people the message that their problems are their own fault, and they’d feel a whole lot better if they just adopted a positive attitude.
That said, there is some evidence (however sparse) that gratitude journalling and expressing gratitude does, in fact, have a positive effect on people’s mental health.
So, if you’re looking for inspiration, but the prompt above doesn’t speak to you, please feel free to submit drafts expressing gratitude in recognition of National Gratitude Month if this inspires you.
Please ensure you check out our submission guidelines prior to submitting.
References
Shah, S. (2021). Gratitude: being thankful is proven to be good for you. In Short, E. (Eds.). A Prescription for Healthy Living. Academic Press, 103–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821573-9.00008-4
Wong, Y. J., Owen, J., Gabana, N. T., Brown, J. W., McInnis, S., Toth, P., Gilman, L. (2018). Does gratitude writing improve the mental health of psychotherapy clients? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Psychotherapy Research, 28(2), 192–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2016.1169332
