Negative people are everywhere, whether it be in the classroom, at home or at the workplace. We often feel trapped and expected to be patient with people who bring us down. Sometimes we’re forced to flee these situations, especially when negativity turns to hate. Escape from negative people can preserve our integrity and save our energies for people who bring out the best in us. We must all make smart choices about the people with whom we associate. After all, our happiness is at stake.
Happiness is something that everyone wants. Sometimes, though, our imaginations create anxiety and actually prevent us from experiencing happiness. We make things worse than they actually are because of what we create in our minds. Yet, at other times, it is our actual experiences that create our suffering and our imaginations either magnify or diminish their importance. The power of the imagination is unique to each individual and can be a source of our happiness or despair.
Kids rush into decision-making without forethought sometimes. They do it on term papers, in class projects and even in their relationships. Often, this approach causes more heartache and work in the long run. There is a lot to be said about careful, slow planning to avoid mistakes. But there’s also an inherent danger in taking the cautious approach. For if they spend all of their time planning, then there’s not much left for experimentation and learning from mistakes.
Going through hard times is something most everybody has to do. Some people face hardship and turn away. They become discouraged and think that success is unattainable. Others see hardship as an opportunity for self-motivation, goal-setting and a fresh re-evaluation of values. Students must determine whether to see hardship as a barrier or an opportunity, and accept the consequences underlying the choices they make.
Self-motivation is an important skill for students of all ages to master. It’s important for students to reflect upon what motivates them to do their best. The challenge with self-motivation is to find exactly what triggers a person to become invested and interested in something enough to see it to completion. For some, motivation is more feeling-based; for others, more thinking-based. Finding that reliable guide for personal motivation is essential for success in life.
One of the hardest skills to develop is the ability to see the world from different perspectives. This skill is especially difficult during crises like the Coronavirus where all around us we see despair, social dislocation and loneliness. Everything tells us to lose hope. It is during these hard times, however, that we have fresh opportunities to see differently in ways that can improve our mental health.
Fear is an emotion we can all identify with. Fear causes stress and discomfort, and makes us do things we would not otherwise do. People react to fear in different ways. Some remain calm; others lose control of their mind which causes even more distress. Dealing with fear in productive ways is an important life skill that helps us manage stress.