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Indicating the possessive in various ways

This student describes how some learners really do prefer to remain in their comfort zone using only the Spanish forms they have already mastered.  "[W]hen you know something is correct and you're so used to doing it that way, you want to stick with it because you know that you're doing it right.”  As a consequence, students avoid using strategies that might help them expand their repertoire; "I do that a lot, but you have to try not to after a while." She uses the example of writing a composition about her family and repeating mi familia over and over – something that is correct, but kind of boring.  "[I]f you keep talking about [mi] familia, [mi] familia it doesn't sound as good … as it could if I said la mía, instead of saying mi familia over and over again." This is a case where learning how to use possessive pronouns such as la mía instead of mi familia would expand your repertoire of forms and help you sound better in your second language.  "[W]hen your teacher says … 'you could do it this way even though the other one is correct too,' you sort of think 'oh! I could do it that way, but this way is easier; this is the way I know, this is what I'm used to.' … Maybe in the long run it's better to… accept the new things you're taught and use them."