The complete list of all life-guiding messages for young people – click the titles for further information
You can’t be so hard on yourself for the little things – everyone makes mistakes, and it can be good to accept them, learn from them, and move on.
For every feeling and situation, you can accept that there is an alternative – you can choose to interpret the situation a different way, soothe yourself, and then feel something different. No one else causes our feelings. Only we can choose and change them.
Find the cause of the feeling you’re having and notice the effect, e.g. you didn’t give yourself enough time for homework, so now you feel stressed. Anytime you feel something uncomfortable that you’d rather avoid, put a magnifying glass on it. Once you know what you feel, you can now challenge both the cause and the effect.
It’s not always easy to understand a feeling when it happens, especially if you think you shouldn’t feel it – but forget about ‘should’. Instead, try to pinpoint exactly what you feel – scared, frustrated, ashamed, angry – and then pinpoint what might be the cause.
You’ll study better if you take care of yourself. Make sure you eat well and get enough sleep and physical exercise. Don’t reward yourself with too many sugary or fatty snacks or push yourself to study late into the night, and make sure you drink plenty of water.
It doesn’t matter where you study as long as the space is quiet, comfortable and distraction-free. Wherever you choose to study, put up motivating quotes, pictures, or anything else that makes you feel good.
Tough times are always accompanied by growth. Every time you go through hardship, you learn how to survive it. You will survive the tough times.
Cultivate extra self-confidence by choosing one item from your “strengths list” and honing it further until it turns into something you can be even more proud of. Actively direct your attention to creating the kind of experiences you want in life and becoming the person you want to be.
Write down an actual list, and refer to it often to remind yourself of your strengths. This might include your natural talents, your learned skills, your achievements, your dreams, and even your healthy relationships.
Mourn your mistakes fully, learn from them, and make amends where possible. Then forgive yourself, and let go of the past so that you can move forward, knowing you’ve done your best.