The Five Ways to Well-Being are important principals which aim to support and foster better well-being and which consequently, have a positive impact on our mental health.
They are: to Give, Take Notice, Keep Learning, Keep Active and Connect. Inherent in many of those key elements is ‘creativity’. It’s an unwritten component of each of them, and illustrates the uniqueness of each individual and how they embrace each of the Five Ways – we use creative thinking to decide.
As we celebrate the theme ‘Express Yourself’ during Children’s Mental Health we are delighted to bring you an amazing story by a Belfast boy who decided to make the most of the lockdown, by ‘expressing himself’ through creative writing.
By Matthew Hunter – aged 10
Inspired by his 8-month-old baby brother, Joey
Boom! went the thunder; flash! went the lightning, making the entire beach go blue. Baby Joey, who just turned eight months old, was in his stroller being pushed by his mother. Along the boardwalk, she said:
“We’d better get home now as this storm is getting worse.”
Joey’s mother only got the words out of her mouth when a bolt of lightning struck Joey’s stroller. The sky turned black and Joey glowed green! There was a deafening silence all around. Joey noticed that his mother was gone!
“Where’s my mother?” he wondered to himself, as a sparkling light shone down from the dark sky and shone right upon baby Joey.
“Come to us, King Joey,” an alien said.
Joey began floating into the green light and noticed a strange flopping in the wind.
“What is that flapping on my back?” he said to himself.
Suddenly, he heard a squeaky, but scary voice, saying:
“Welcome Captain Joey, our Hero of the Seas – we have a special mission for you. You have been selected by the mighty ocean gods from Mars to fight the evil crimes in the ocean. A gang of crazy pirates and crabs have stolen our Aculus and we cannot cross The Milky Way. If do not complete the mission then we will keep your mother – mwaahaahaa!”
So Captain Joey was launched into the Atlantic Ocean with only his dummy, a cape and a bottle of milk with a green substance, which would bring him places he wouldn’t ever think of.
Joey came to the Milky Way with a boom and a bang! He burst into Milky Way with a swoosh and took out the guards. Joey took a swig of the green substance and felt power in his eyes – Joey got laser eyes! He opened some massive doors and found a fellow baby saying “help me, help me,” so Joey used his laser eyes to cut the ropes to free him, and gave him the special milk, and said: “What’s your name?”
“Ronan” said the baby. Joey asked him: “Would you like to be recruited?”
“Hell Yeah!” said Ronan, and they walked miles and miles to get to the aculus, when they stumbled upon the Milky Monster.
“Roar!” said the Monster. Boom! Flash! Bang! Went Ronan in his first battle.
They walked for miles and miles and miles more to find the main boss to find the aculus. They stumbled upon their greatest boss in the planet and had the greatest fight of their lives and used the last of their powers, shooting one big laser beam into the monster. It exploded with goo and the aculus was inside him.
They walked an amazing number of miles, back to base and gave the aculus back to the aliens, who then gave them back their mums.
