Tag: life

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Blog Life After High School

Forget Grades. Here Are 6 Small Things You Must Do in High School.

Adolescence = High School which also = time, a unique time we won’t get back. I don’t want to see my fellow peers unhappy and stuck. I don’t want to hear about the next generation feeling stuck.

Please take advantage of your high school career by:

Removing limiting beliefs. Many of us grew up (and are growing up) thinking that certain things aren’t possible for us. Whether family put ideas in our head, or certain ideas are not promoted in the areas we live in, we might assume that certain things simply aren’t meant for us.

Expanding your range of possibilities. Now take it a step further. You’re upbringing might have affected the way you view success, but now that you see what else is possible, open your mind and be open to using this time to gain skills that will help you in the real world.

Knowing how to research (and doing it). This is the #1. So many people miss out on great opportunities, early opportunities, cheaper opportunities, and paid opportunities, simply because they “didn’t know.” Why? Because they don’t look things up.

You also don’t want to be that 12th grader that is sure about their future plan but can’t answer basic questions about the profession. Researching is super important. Not only does it help you realize if you actually want to do something, but it can potentially give you a head start towards that career.

Analyzing the aspects you want in a career. When you start to look into planning your post-secondary life, you’ll need to think about the aspects that are driving your decisions.

Passion: You may love to draw. You may love to take pictures; but will that make you enough of a profit to live off of? Is it going to fit your lifestyle? Will it give you financial freedom, and most importantly time freedom? These are factors to consider when choosing your career path.

If you have interests, you’ve probably thought about involving them in your future in some way. That’s amazing but rethink it to see if it will fit your goals. Sometimes having a passion for something, no matter how strong it is, won’t be enough to hold you down. Keeping that present, especially towards the last years of high school, will remind you to always be on the lookout for opportunities.

Self-discipline: Many successful people agree that self-discipline is the key to success. Think about yourself. Do you have a strong work ethic? Doing something that you know has to be done can be easier when you’re getting something out of it, like getting paid. Other times self-discipline alone cannot guarantee success.

If you’re someone who is automatically thinking “college” and your work ethic in high school is poor, start looking for a plan b ole buddy. It’s necessary to be able to say to yourself, “I’m doing this now and will be able to do this for the years to come” rather than, “I’m not doing this now but when I have to do it later, then I’ll do it.” Remember a poor academic performance can lead to missed opportunities.

Motivation: That energy that gives us drive is motivation. It improves productivity, positivity, and enhances performance. The trick is to find what your career path is going to need the most. It may not be passion, self-discipline, or motivation but the point is that you need to know what you’re setting yourself up for.

Career guidance for high school students
preparing students for the real world
how self-discipline leads to success

Not waiting to look for exposure. One of my classmates once told me, “If you don’t support yourself no one else will.” If there’s any skill that you have, any talent that you have, any interest that you have, (and let it be appropriate) bring it up in conversations with people. Show your skill off asap, especially around people that can help you take things to the next level: staff members, counselors, college prep advisors etc.

Taking advice from the right people. You always know who you’re talking to. If you know that expressing your dreams to said people it’s going to receive unsupportive comments, spare yourself share your happiness with the right crowd.

Okay maybe these 6 things weren’t so small, they have to do with opening your mind and doing what you can to prepare yourself to be an awesome adult in the real world. Even if you don’t care about it right now, remember that anything can happen.

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Accompanied Video Blog

Who Really Made You Insecure?

Insecurities isecurities isecurities. I don’t mean to bring it up but

Insecurities.

Well, physical ones. They’re mentioned a ton in the real world and on the media. They’re especially tied with topics regarding a change of appearance, like surgeries, procedures, and working out.

You might say, ‘I’m doing this for myself’ or ‘I want to do this to make ME happy’ but is it truly JUST for you? ಠಿ⁠_⁠ಠ

Accompanying video:

Of course, there are things that we naturally like and don’t like, but there preferences we carry because we’ve unknowingly been influenced by common society.

To put things into perspective, think of something you’ve wanted to change about yourself. Now think about this:

If you were never made fun of for this, if this wasn’t looked down upon on social media, if that change wasn’t going to get you more attention, would you still change it?

Don’t base your decisions on appealing to a crowd. Every once it a while, well okay. But hopefully you still pause and think about where a thought is coming from to avoid becoming dependent on pleasing people’s eyes.

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Blog

The Most Important Thing in a Friendship is Not What You Think it is…

Yeah, yeah. I can trust you; you can trust me. I can be loyal to you, be honest with you, and you do the same with me. But in a year, I’ll still cut you off…or worse yet we break down until we fall off.

Why is it that the typical qualities that are supposed to hold people together aren’t always solid? Love, respect, patience, and loyalty. They’re great, but do they always fix everything?

Of course nothing fixes everything, but still, here’s my point.

I’ve come to realize that the most important things in a friendship are knowing each other and trusting that knowledge of each other. I, like many others, have heard about friendships ending because of silliness and misunderstandings.

‘But they loved each other.’ ‘And they cared for each other.’ Yeah, but they didn’t truly know each other. When you know someone, you don’t automatically judge them. Because you’ve picked up on their tendencies, you know that they probably didn’t mean it in a bad way, or their phone must’ve died, or they must’ve had a really good reason to cancel. It’s similar to being perceptive, but it’s more specific to that person’s habits.

Let’s set some examples.

1. Ashley and Tim are close friends. All week, Ashley has been mentioning that she wants to check out a new burger joint with him, but they haven’t had a chance do so. When they’re finally both free on Saturday, Tim spends his day with a group of friends at an aquarium. When he tells Ashley, she feels neglected and jealous. Although she can close herself off or call Tim out for not having her in mind, she knows that he couldn’t have had any intentions to offend her and doesn’t doubt it; and with that, Ashley lets it go.

2. Rease has a locker at school. His close friend, Jon, knows his lock code too. One day, Jon goes to his locker to get his bag of popcorn but discovers it missing. His immediate thought is that someone must’ve taken it. Jon must’ve taken it!… But wait. Rease knows, and is sure, that Jon always asks before taking something; he wouldn’t just steal. When Rease gets to class and takes his books out to get ready, he realizes the popcorn bag was in his backpack. Oops.

These aren’t the deepest of scenarios, but they show that the smallest of things can introduce bitterness and create distance between people over time.

Takeaways

As you see, simply knowing someone’s character can prevent things from going south as the troubled person tries to step back and analyze their situation without only focusing on their feelings, as well as thinking about the other person’s perspective.

It’s not about blindly defending the other person’s every move, but about trying to see things as they are.

Wire heart in sand. Friendships end, but let's avoid that and keep friends close.

As mentioned in the beginning, love, respect, patience, and loyalty are great, but when tied in with insight they remind us of the value that person and that relationship holds. When we truly know someone, and trust that knowledge, we can navigate even the toughest challenges with ease.

So, invest time in getting to know your friends so you can watch your friendships grow; not fall. (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡