Santana the starfish is like any other starfish, born with thick and tough skin. Her family of starfish taught her to be tough and strong through hard times and situations.
Santana has a soft spot. She is very sweet and likes to talk about her feelings and emotions. Santana usually does this through journaling because she feels like her family would not like to talk about it. The family always puts on a tough face despite how hard or sad a situation is. “It’s the starfish nature” tells her dad. Santana feels alone with journaling her thoughts.
She has a clownfish friend named Oscar who always emphasizes the importance of expressing your emotions and feelings. Santana likes to have conversations with Oscar because of this. She tells him of her family ways and culture of suppressing how you feel. “I feel so alone in my family. Everyone seems to be able to put a smile on and move on. But I can’t do that!” Oscar reminds Santana that it’s okay to have feelings whether that be negative or positive, all feelings are valid. “You must accept that you will feel things differently from other people and it’s okay to have bad thoughts and feelings. It’s a matter of how you cope and handle them.”
Santana realizes that she wants to change the narrative within her family. She now likes to share how her day went at dinner and not shy away from telling parts of her day that were not so good. Santana is a tough starfish who likes to express herself.