The character in encanto that I relate to the most is Luisa Madrigal.

As the eldest daughter in

my family I am trained to be strong and independent. Showing weaknesses and emotions like
being sad is not an option for me since I have to take care of my two little sisters. The pressure
of being the mature one in the family, forced to grow older and accept life as it is not even being
able to enjoy it. My father always taught me that I must always be strong, never show how I feel
and that I must always be ready with what the world throws at me. The problem is that all of my
feelings get bottled up and sometimes I tend to blow up. I have a problem with expressing
myself due to this. Showing emotions and feeling empathy is a struggle for me now that I’ve
grown older. At an early age, I was diagnosed with teenage depression though I did not get
treatment for it, then it got worse and worse until I had stopped eating and I was consistently
depressed. At the age of 19 I was clinically diagnosed with Major Depression with Anxiety and
Hearing Hallucinations. I struggled a lot and I was underweight at 40kg. When I started seeking
a psychiatrist, it was not easy for my family to accept that I was sick both physically and
mentally. My mother was in denial as well as my sisters and brother, my father however, tried to
understand me and help me in any way he could. As time went by my mother, sisters, and
brother slowly accepted my condition and learned how to help me. I gradually gained weight
and my hallucinations disappeared, though I am still depressed with anxiety, it is not as horrible
as it was before. The learnings and unlearnings in the movie encanto is that family is family, we
must learn to accept each other no matter what whether they are gifted or normal like everybody
else. The toxic traits of family traditions wherein the eldest must act this way or be this way must
be unlearnt. Talking back to your elders is not always a good thing, we must always treat them
with respect but sometimes we need to stand up for ourselves. Stopping toxic family traditions is
hard especially when it’s passed from generation to generation but I believe that it starts with us.
Of course, we must still be respectful towards our elders especially since that is how they grew
up but there will always be room for change and growth.