Each week, Wenona’s student leaders share their insights with their peers in Assembly.
In my 17 years of life, I’ve received a pretty solid collection of birthday presents and have become really good at predicting them. I did not, however, predict unwrapping a gratitude journal on my 17th birthday.
The journal itself was straightforward. Six minutes a day, a couple of questions. Easy, right? It turned out, however, to be one of the most challenging things I would take on. On day one, I was enthusiastic. Three things I was grateful for? My mum, my dad, my brother. How was I going to make today great? By giving someone a compliment. Those aren’t bad answers. I’m genuinely grateful for my family every day, and everyone loves compliments.
But as the days went on, I started to struggle. Not only to incorporate the journal into my routine but answering at all. I felt like I was failing at what should be the easiest thing in the world. I have so much I should be grateful for, and yet I would sit there, for a lot longer than six minutes, stuck. Still, every morning and every night, I sat down and I reflected. Slowly, my answers started to change. I moved past the obvious things we are all told to be thankful for and started noticing the smaller ones. A song that came on at exactly the right moment. A friend who saved me a seat without being asked. Things I had walked past every single day without a second thought suddenly felt worth something.
That small shift in the way I was paying attention changed the way I moved through the world entirely. I started to give more genuinely, because I had become more aware of what it meant to receive. A compliment no longer felt like something to tick off a list; it felt natural. Conversations felt more meaningful. I felt more present, more connected and more myself.
When I first heard the 2026 Student Leaders’ theme, “Give More, Grow More”, I thought of grand gestures. Big acts of generosity that transform communities overnight. But what I’ve come to understand is that growth rarely begins that way. It often begins in the smallest of places. For me, it began in six minutes a day. Six minutes of choosing to look for good, even on the days when it felt impossible to find. And in giving those six minutes to gratitude, I found myself growing, not just as an individual, but in the way I showed up for the people around me.
It isn’t always easy. At first, it really isn’t. But when it becomes a habit, even just acknowledging what someone has done, perspective shifts. When the focus moves away from what cannot be controlled and towards what can be, resilience and connection follow. That is what giving more looks like. And that is how we grow.
No fancy journal is needed to start. Just the willingness to look a little closer at the life already being lived.
