BEING YOURSELF

WAYS TO BE YOURSELF AND LOVE YOURSELF

1. Celebrate your uniqueness.

2. Know what you like and don't like

3. Like what you see when you look in the mirror

4. Every now and then, dress exactly the way you like, instead of dressing like your friends

5. Think about things that make you happy

6. Think with your heart

7. Do something creative by yourself

8. Pick one day a week that is ''your day" to do what you need

9. Do something athletic without competing

10. Read a great book

11. Do something kind for someone else

12. Do something kind and don't let anyone know you did it

13. When someone compliments you, let it in and say, "Thanks"

14. Plant something and watch it grow

15. Spend some time alone doing nothing

16. Make your room your own. Decorate it, put pictures of your friends or what makes you happy everywhere

17. Forgive yourself for everything you've ever done and start clean

18. Dream big dreams for yourself and know your dreams can come true

19. Say one nice thing to yourself every day

20. Start each day by being grateful

ACCEPTING SADNESS

Everything in life has its two sides : Day and Night, young and old, good and bad, and happy and sad. If we did not know sadness, we could not know happiness. Most people including myself, try to avoid feeling down or depressed, we think we have to do whatever it takes to snap out of it. What I have learned, however, is that resisting negative feelings only makes them stronger. Trying to avoid pain only makes it worse. The best thing to do when we get sad is to accept it. Use it as a time to be by yourself and listen to music or reflect and write in your journal. There are good things about feeling sad and vulnerable. It can be a time filled with insight and answers to questions like :

What is important to me?

What does it mean to love yourself?

What do I need?

You will find that the answers to these questions are very clear to you when you are hurting. It is in these moments that you can learn what it is to love and to be your own best friend.

SCULPTING YOURSELF

Part of being a teenager is discovering who we are. It is not something that happens overnight. We test ourselves by seeing how we respond to different situations. We try different styles and a different look until we find something that feels right for us. We test out different value systems to see which ones feel good and which ones don't.

The thing to remember is that you are sculpting you. In order to do that, you have to make mistakes. You have to try things on for size. Many of those things will clearly be you and many of those things won't.

This is why some teenagers have struggles with their parents. You have to figure out for yourself what is important to you and what your values are. You may go through a period where you dis regard everything your parent taught you. But as time passes, you will see that that it isn't about accepting everything they taught you or rejecting all of it, it is about making the thongs you agree with your own and lovingly setting aside the things you don't.

Just remember that when you make discoveries about yourself, don't shy away from them. Keep them as yours and know that each time another discovery is made you are closer to knowing yourself.

HAVE A GREAT DAY! =D