We were lucky to catch up with Dennya Canales recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dennya, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
I grew up with little confidence and self-esteem, and it took me a lot longer than I’d like to admit to gain and develop it. I was a timid kid (and still am now) and suffered from severe bullying which took a very high toll on my mental health and affected my confidence and self-esteem gravely. It wasn’t until high school and college I got my mental health up and started to feel my worth and value. I met my best friend and hermano when I first moved to high school, technically middle school but I only went for two months so it’s whatever, but he helped me a lot with my mental health and showed me that I was undervaluing myself. A year later, I met my baes! They are my world. My boyfriend also helped me a lot, he is my biggest supporter and makes me feel so confident. We’ve been dating since senior year! Me and my baes became the best trio known to mankind and honestly, I’ve grown so much because of them and I feel like we all grew a lot with one another. We’ve done everything together and they will be my maids of honor at my wedding. I’ve also got my group of college friends! They are amazing and lowkey we all share one brain cell, it’s actually concerning. Everyone helped me so much with my mental health and I’ve grown so much more confident because of them. Especially with college being such a hard time for me because of my family life. My self-esteem was raised so much because of them and I’m not saying you need friends to raise your confidence and self-esteem but as someone who was constantly brought down one way or another by others, just knowing you are enough and worth it no matter what by those you value was so nice.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am very much an artist. I love coloring, creating, painting, you name it! I’ve recently gone into making YouTube videos of me playing video games. I’ve always wanted to do YouTube so this is a fun experience for me. I’m not the best at editing though. I love making illustrations too. I’m an undergraduate at Towson University majoring in Illustration and minoring in Art History. I find art and its history so interesting and important as it continues to follow us in all shapes and forms. From current Modern art to Renaissance art to Ancient art. It is honestly something so valuable and important for me to learn from the past to apply to the future. I discovered my love for art in middle school when an old friend showed me the Warrior Cat books and I began to make Warrior Cat fanart and OCs! I love making fan art and different things! I love to collab I’ve recently collaborated with my friend, serenity! (she has her own article too if you wanna check her out!) and it’s been a blast. If you’d like to follow me you can follow my main and art Instagram accounts! @dedennelolz and @bubbadinoysus. I also post gaming videos on YouTube at @cherriezgames. Soon enough I’ll be making phone charms so watch out for that!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1) Trusting the Process
This one is such an annoying expression and when I tell you how many professors will tell you this is insane. When I tell you however this applies to both your art and your life, it does. I hated looking at the process of my artwork because of how bad it looked and then when I miraculously didn’t give up it looked amazing. I’ve had many moments with my art that I looked halfway done and absolutely gave up on because I didn’t trust the process. Sometimes giving up is what you will end up doing and that’s ok but finishing work not knowing how its going to turn out is the best feeling. When you look at your creation and see how amazing it is because you put your blood, sweat, and tears into it not knowing it was going to look the way it does makes it 100% worth it. Whether it is with artworks or videos or any form of creation you make. Trust the process because it will give you results in both the creative and non-creative fields.
2)Believing in Myself
I was a very timid child growing up with horrible self-esteem and confidence and now that I am at a happy place in time, believing in myself has been one of the most impactful parts of my journey. I’ve done things I’ve never imagined I’d do in my life. Little me would be shocked to see where we are now. I’ve applied to galleries and I’ve applied myself to do more art and be more creative, I even finally created a YouTube channel without the worry and anxiety of being successful. I’m not doing things anymore for the sake of success but because it is fun and I like doing it.
3) Taking Risks
This one falls under believing in myself but it’s important because a lot of the things I’ve done have been huge risks. I moved out of home knowing it was going to be difficult and stressful but I did it anyways. I’m going out more hanging out with friends and making new ones! I went to a thrift market for the first time and I ate Korean hot pot for the first time too. I want to start a business and actually stick to it instead of giving up. I’ve bought the supplies, I am committed. There were so many risks to take and I took them even though I knew there wasn’t any going back.
My advice for everyone is to start small and scale up. Get out of that comfort bubble and explore. You don’t have to move out of home like I did but don’t be afraid to try things and be different. Different is good it separates us as individuals!
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am! I love the idea of collaborating with others. Honestly, anyone who is an artist and likes similar things like I do. I love anime, and cartoons, I’m currently reading books and manga again. I loved the ending of Agatha All Along. Anything fantasy and magical I love and if they’re into that we’d get along great. We’d get along great and have lots of fun! I just want to collaborate with fun people who are weird like me! And even if your not, I’d still love to be your friend.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @dedennelolz / @bubbadinoysus
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cherriezgames
Image Credits
@catcake__0
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
