If you found your friend tripped over in the middle of the hallway at school, or if you saw old women walking with a heavy bag, you would go up to them and offer help? When someone close to you is in difficult situation and seeking help, you will at least listen to he/she. You are kind. But why should we be kind to others? One of the reason is simply because you will feel better and improve self-esteem due to your action. Or it might be because “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” which Plato once said. Kindness is in the cycle, if you be kind to someone, that someone would be kind to you. Then let’s see what you would say If you tripped over in the hallway at school, you would probably go like “I’m stupid, hope nobody saw that”. Once I was practicing the piano for the recital, I made mistakes with the same part over and over again, I was so tired of myself, and “Why do I keep making the same mistake? Why can’t I even do this easy simple stuff?”. When something bad happens, we blame ourselves. This is not only because of my lack of self-confidence, but because I am hard on myself. Not being strict, being mean. Sometimes people are required to be mean to urge to sacrifice yourself in order to make better results. However, we tend to be too mean at times. If the person tripped over was others than you, you won’t talk to them in the way you reacted to yourself. Why can’t we be kind to ourselves when we can to others? Being kind to yourself is one of the most important step of self care, but how should one take care of themself? Briefly, I believe it is “to cherish your feeling and thoughts, and interests”. Your feelings and thoughts are the things you want to value the most, otherwise how could people don’t live their lives be kind to others? If you could not value yourself, you would feel like you need somebody you can rely on or wait until something special happens to make you feel accepted enough. But you don’t want to be like that. You want to be able to value yourself on your own. In real life, it is difficult to value and take care of yourself when the society and outside world are often times telling us to be strict to self, and kind to others. So the steps below might help!
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Do you wear a jock? Why don’t you play softball? are just some of the many questions I get asked daily, Being a girl in a male dominant sport that doesn’t do well with change has definitely been a challenge in many ways.playing in the league i do has definitely made me a stronger person both mentally and physically i am always pushed to lift heavier, swing hard and run faster and just be able to stay at their level in general. When they say “blocking out the haters” i take that quite literally it’s something that I have had to master through my whole career. Don’t get me wrong the whole mental part of the game is not easy it is actually harder than the games itself. Oh and don’t get me started about playing a new team its the constant chirps from the dugout “ is that a girl” and the 20 new following requests after the game is just an day in the life of a girl playing in a men’s league. I’ve been with the boys on my team for so long now they consider me just another one of the boys which is good and bad i mean i can’t ask for anymore than that even if I get brought into awkward conversation i just laugh and keep going. Personally one of my favourite things is when the guys come to me and go “ you see there this girl and i don't know what to do any advice” like woah i feel like a match maker all you girls can thank me for those well thought out dates or gestures. At the end of the day I wouldn’t change the choice of playing baseball for anything it has brought me so many amazing opportunities and taken me so many cool places. Even though it’s been blood sweat and tears that i have poured into this sport and that includes many sacrificed weekends and weekdays but in the end it was all worth it.
Strategies I used to keep in my mind through my baseball career
Holy moly is it ever hard to be a teenager. Many will agree and I’d be quite surprised if they didn’t. Very few can testify to having an easy time in high school; academic wise, friendship wise and family wise as well. Teenagers each day go through mental, emotional and some physical challenges that are overwhelmingly difficult to deal with. I believe we are never given more than we can handle but through these hard experiences we learn a lot about ourselves. In high school, everyone in some way is searching for themselves, experimenting with different things, figuring out what they enjoy and what they don't, and most importantly who they want to become after leaving high school. The main difficulty is the feeling that we are not ________ enough. Not pretty enough, not popular enough, not smart enough, not fast enough, not GOOD enough.. It is so important recognize the positive things about yourself because you are enough, and you do not need to change in any way in order to be enough. Many individuals undergo this battle, and a clip from TedTalk shone light on this as well. Unfortunately there are so many factors that play a role in one's journey of discovery and often what youth lose is there sense of staying true to who they are and who they want to be. For myself I have found highschool to be one of the most challenging experiences I have been through because of this aspect. A few years ago after spending a summer away volunteering at a summer camp, I really had time to reflect on my life and learn more about myself. Coming home that summer I decided that I wanted to follow God and to start attending church and a youth group. This was a very big adjustment for my family and friends who do not share the same views as me. Entering back into my community, my school, and my friend groups, I found it exceptionally difficult to pursue the path that I wanted to follow amongst those who were close minded to my decision to become christian. This is still something I struggle with on a daily basis but I have grown in my faith through these hard moments as I have been challenged to continue staying true to myself even when it feels like I am super alone. This is only my example though and for others it may be something completely different, but I believe that we all have difficulties in high school, to stay true to our morals, our beliefs and our values. Staying true to myself hasn’t been easy as I have become distant with some of my friends, I have had conflicts with my family and I have felt quite alone at school as I am now considered different. However, staying true to what I believe in and how I want to live my life has been the most rewarding thing. I have learned more about myself, my faith and who I want to be and through it all I have been able to influence others through these experiences. A few key things to remember are:
Although my story is different than others, the tips that I have used in staying true to myself through high school, may be relatable to others who are exhibiting similar difficulties. Being a teenager in general with the everyday challenges of being yourself in your friend group, being yourself on a sports team or in a club etc. is extremely difficult, especially when facing everyday challenges. But discovering who you are and who you want to be is crucial to living a lifestyle with authenticity and originality. Do not be afraid to make mistakes but learn from them and learn more about yourself. You are you and you should embrace everything that makes you yourself. You are incredible just the way you are.
-Emily C Everyone has someone in their life who loves them whether it’s family or a significant other. There was a time in my life where I believed that I had no one who loved me. When I was 9 years old after a trip to Mexico, I suddenly started getting very sick. I did not want to get up in the morning, I was very pale, I had no energy, I didn’t eat anything, and I just sat in front of the fireplace all day. My parents took me to the doctors a few days later and all they said was that I had an infection and it would pass in a few days. A week later I was worse than before, I was barely able to get out of bed, never ate anything, and was always throwing up. My parents decided to take me Children’s hospital, where I spent most of my time over the next few weeks. Over those weeks I began to feel like the whole world hated me and everyone was out to punish me. I pushed everyone including my family, and friends. They all told me that they loved me no matter what happened but I didn’t believe them. After many exams and tests I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/uf6003 , which is a lifelong disease involving inflammation of the small and large intestines. This was a shock to my family as I had always been a healthy kid. For the next few years I struggled a lot with keeping my disease under controlled with different meds and diets, as well as with believing that I had people who loved me. Everyday I had people tell me they loved me, but I still wasn’t sure that was true. I struggled a lot throughout most of life because of my older brother, because I believed my parents loved him more. I thought he was the smart kid, and never did anything wrong. I was wrong though. One night when I was 12 my brother sat me down in his room and told me that though he got good grades in school it wasn’t because he was that smart it was because he worked for it, he also told me that he was by far a perfect child and messed up just like every other kid. I felt a lot better after that. At the age of 13 my Crohn’s was in remission, and I was getting along better at home. I have had no symptoms since I was 13, with the help of meds https://www.healthline.com/health/crohns-disease/medications , and have helped other kids dealing with the same things as me. I occasionally still feel that I am not loved, but my family and friends remind me that’s not true. Whatever is happening in your life remind yourself no matter what you are loved. Christina C |
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