I N S P O C O R N E R
School/Work
We all know that school and work can be extremely overwhelming. Sometimes, you may not get the position you wanted in your job, you may not get the grade you expected on an assignment...but one letter does not determine your entire future. My biggest advice to high school students is knowing how to balance your tasks. If something is too much pressure or is taking up too much of your time...it's a clear sign that it is too much for you at the moment. Focus on things you can accomplish NOW, and pace yourself on tasks that take a little bit longer. You can do it :)
Life and its Ups and Downs
Life is a crazy roller coaster. But we often tend to live it in terms of black and white: things that go our way: good. And things that don't go our way: bad. If we keep living in this mindset, we will never open up our minds to see the color of life. Sometimes the things that don't go your way, are actually the paths that lead us to success. Accept these setbacks, and take them as another color being added to your canvas. Don't be so caught up in the brushstrokes when the painting itself can be a total masterpiece! Let your life be filled with color and enjoy the vibrancy.
Mental Health
When people hear the term "mental health" most think of the negatives. Mental health is not the bad things themselves, it is learning how to deal with them. Sometimes, the only thing that is wrong with you, is the belief that something IS wrong with you. Pay attention to how you react to certain situations, and learn from yourself. At times, we don't even realize how much damage we do to our own mental health and peace. The biggest key is to be aware and to accept. Our mental health is something that we all need to take care of, so take a second today to ask yourself...what is my relationship with myself and how can I make it better?
Bad Days
I get it. We all have bad days. We all have "off days" I know because I used to have them a lot. It's okay to have a bad day and take a break. No one is expected to be good all the time...sometimes it's okay to just take a moment to yourself. We often tend to blame others for our bad days. This is extremely harmful to our personal growth as it's not always good to find justification for the bad things in your life. There is a huge mental shift I went through in which when I had a bad day, instead of saying "I had a bad day because..." and saying "I had a bad day today because I didn't let myself be happy" We are in charge of our own mental peace and happiness. Had a bad day? Eliminate the mental blame game, and focus on things that make you happy. Maybe take a walk, write, listen to music...anything that shifts your mental focus from negative to positive.
Acceptance = Achievement
Yes, things can often go completely opposite of what we expect them to be, but how we cope and manage these things is crucial. Acceptance is a very important skill to acquire in life. Accepting the things that don't go your way, the situations you can't fix, the people you can't change. Accepting doesn't mean ignoring the problem, but simply taking the next steps to solve it. What issues are you facing in your life right now? And how can you accept them with open arms...ready to solve? Once you start the act of accepting, you will retain the gift of achieving.
Success
What is success to you? For some, success is having a job and a nice house, for some, it's getting into the college they've always wanted to go to. Everyone's success is determined on their own scale. Never compare your success to another's...it messes up the balance. Success to me is being able to conquer myself, and do things I can be proud of each and every day. What is your view of success?
perseverance
Strength is not determined how much you can handle, but HOW you handle those things. When challenges come in your way, or you encounter obstacles in your path...the key to conquering these challenges is simply surpassing them. Perseverance is learning to get up once your down. But this can only be learned from falling several times. Accept problems with open arms, have the courage to go through them. And the solutions will come to you on their own.
Losses
We win. We lose. It's part of life. Losing people and the relationship you used to have with them is one of the hardest things to cope with and accept, but losing is crucial to our growth. If we never lose the wrong people in our lives, how will we know who the right ones are? Sometimes we prevent ourselves to grow by standing on our dead roots, step off of the plants that are already dead, and plant new seeds. Create new relationships, and accept the ones that you lost. Each one will teach you something, take the lesson and move onto the next.
Managing Stress
With the current health situation, it can be hard to stay at home and feel like you're not in control of the outside situation. Managing stress can be anything from taking time to refocus on you, to learning a new activity. It's okay to feel uncomfortable about everything going on...but just know that what you can't control isn't worth stressing about. Stress in times like this is hard to manage, but it is important to acknowledge these feelings and to focus on the things that you can control.