Do you have a plan?

I ran into one of my friends the other day. He used to live near us, and then his family moved, so I hadn't talked to him for a while. We talked about envisioning what is going to happen to us in the future. Now, that is a delicate idea; yes it's good to know where you want your life to go from this point, but you don't want to be so caught up in it that you can't live in the moment and see where you are now.
What do you want to happen in your future? You may think this question is only for kids, who are in high school, or in college, but really this question applies to anyone, and everyone who wants to think about it. You can have a steady job, and be 40 years old, but you still need to think about how what you are doing at this point in your life is affecting what your life will look like in five to 10 years. That might be your relationships. (this might be geared more towards high school, but it can apply anywhere needed) If you are messing around, and not being faithful to one person, that might mess with you when you get older, it might keep you in regret. I really don't know much, but I do know that it will affect you in the future. Another thing might be chewing, or smoking. Almost everyone knows that these actions cause pain and suffering later in life, but some people still chose to do it. Now, I'm not here to tell you that all of these things are wrong because as far as I know, you guys aren't asking my opinion about smoking, chewing, cheating, so on. All I'm saying is that your actions have consequences, and it's easier to see how your actions are going to affect you when you have a plan for the rest of your life.

My plan is to continue to motivate and inspire everyone, even as I'm old. I want people to look at my picture after I'm dead, and say "because of her, I am the way I am today" or something to that effect. If that is my goal, I can't just throw my life away, and not care about much. I have to stay focused, in school, in relationships, and in sports. I encourage you to do the same.
First, you need to find what you want to do in your life, then you need to find how you're are going to pursue that. What will you have to push yourself to do to be able to reach your goal? Finally, you need to not give up. If you set a goal of what you want your life to look like, you need to keep that. Maybe it's that you want to loose weight. You're not going to be able to loose and weight if you give up halfway through your workout. If you choose to skip one day or take it easy, you are going to mentally think that it is ok to skip something every now and then, once you get away with it once, you'll do it more and more. So DON'T STOP EVEN ONCE!!

Follow your dreams

If you're anything like me, you've heard this term so many times before that you can't even count them. FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS. But do you? Not everything is for everybody. If you are raised in a community that is very agricultural like me, chances are you get pressured to grow up and have your profession in something to do with agriculture. But let's just say you don't want to, what then? Will you get picked on for wanting something different? The answer to those questions is yes. You will get picked on for wanting something different, but don't let that stop you. If you want to go and be a beautician, or if you want to pursue arts, go for it. The only thing that can stop you from doing something you love is you. If you want to fit in with the community, and don't want to be picked on, and you want to be just like everyone else, you will never be able to do what you want unless you want to be like everyone else in your community (which isn't bad) just if you do what you think others want you to do, chances are that you are going to be unhappy.
Like I wrote earlier, not everything is for everybody. If you want to do something different than the norm, I challenge you to do that. Go and look all of the people who told you what you should become when you grow up, or what you should go into as a profession, and tell them straight up what you want. Be. What. You. Want. To. Be. and don't let ANYONE stop you. You should follow your dreams, not anyone else's.

If you accept this challenge, let me know how it goes. Leave me comments on what you want to be, and what others think you should be. Email me at LMYmotivation16@gmail.com
Have a good weekend, I hope to hear from you, and you'll hear from me again on Monday the 25th.

Classy vs. Fitting in

Ever since you started being around people, they were telling you that you needed to fit in, and be like everyone else. This doesn't have to be true. In the world we live in today, especially for teenagers, fitting in isn't exactly a good thing. Teenagers have the reputation of being disrespectful, being ungrateful, doing drugs, drinking, chewing, and having too serious of relationships while they are still young. I don't know about you, but that isn't the kind of reputation that I want, I don't want to fit into that if people think that is normal. If fitting in requires me to lose my self-respect, I simply won't do it, and I would encourage you all to do the same.

Arguably the biggest problem facing teens right now is peer pressure. It happens to everyone, and to not be affected by it, you have to already know mentally what is good for you and what's not. Many people (myself included) have a hard time with this, therefore, peer pressure is "unstoppable".

Now, let's define these two ideas; Classy and Fitting in:

Classy: of high class, rank, or grade; stylish; admirably smart; elegant.
Fitting in: be socially compatible with other members of a group.

 Is the crowd that you are in right now going to matter in 20 years? Will fitting in in high school affect your life for the better when you get ready to go on? So are you willing to give up high grade, elegant, etc. to fit into a crowd that isn't going to matter in 20 years anyway? Is it worth it? Let that sink in for a minute or two.

You are an Example

You may not realize it, but people are watching you. especially if you are a high scholar in a small school, and the "little kids" are around. People see what you act like, and pay attention. They are reacting to your actions, and reactions. You influence everyone in you cross paths whether you are trying to or not. If you are anything like me, little kids go up to you, and just want to talk. I think that while they are getting to know you, and talking with you, they are also watching you to see how they should act, towards others, and about hard situations. If they look up to you, they'll try and act like you do, and if they don't like you, or they think that you are mean, they won't necessarily try and act like you, but they might. I'm not saying that if you can get little kids to dislike you, they won't pick up on your actions and try them themselves, because they will.

Now, little kids aren't the only people who watch your actions and reactions. Adults, are watching you too. Older kids, or teens, also watch you, and have a little more comprehension than little kids. They can see if you are succeeding in multiple arias of life, and then decided if they want to be like you, where as little kids just do what everyone does. I would like to say that the older you get, the less you let the way other people act, affect you, but that isn't always true. Peer pressure is a big thing (that is a whole different post). The point that I'm trying to make, is that you are an example, and people are either using you as a good one or a bad one. My band teacher told us one day, that she wanted us to set the example not be the example. The reasoning behind that made a lot of scene. she said that when she though of someone setting the example, they were acting like everyone else should act like. Of course her motive was practicing, and we should practice hard, and show they younger kids that they should do the same, but it's basically the same thing. On the other hand, she thought that when someone called you an example, they were saying that you were an example of what not to do. I don't complacently agree with that, but it makes sense.

You can choose if you are a good example or not, but you have to make that choose.

Good luck to all of you, I hope you chose to be good examples, and have people look up to you and say "that's the kind of person I want to be!" rather than the saying "holly cow! I'm going to use that person to help remind me what not to do."
Have a wonderful weekend, and week!

Honesty

Don't try and fool everyone all of the time.
 It won't work!

Being honest is arguable the most important trait in a persons character. If they are not willing to tell you the whole truth, there is no reason to trust them. Being honest is the "maker or braker"  in a relationship (of any kind). If you can't be honest, you either don't trust yourself, or however you are liaing  to. Now I really hate that word; "liar" when being serous is one of the worst insults I think a person can get. That doesn't mean that as soon as you say something that isn't true, you should be labeled a liar. No, that's not what I'm saying, but if you tell a lie, and don't fess up to it, and keep doing it, over and over again, then you are a liar. When it is really a problem is when you tell the same lie over and over again until you believe it yourself. We all have to do with lies and people who tell them, but it is up to us if we want to stick around that person or not. I really don't like when people lie to me, or at all for that matter, but when they start telling bald face lies straight to my face, really makes me mad. Now, I know that I need to not just be mad at that person for the rest of my life, but remove my self. I would ask you to do the same, no only for your own personal health, but for the other person. When I say  "for your own personal health" I'm saying that it isn't good for you to be around people who don't tell the truth, and it is doing damage to you, because you are learning to get used to it, and it not be a problem anymore. The biggest thing that I'm trying to say is please, please, PLEASE, be honest with the people you are around, as well as with yourself. It's important, and you will be happier in the end...Trust me!!!

Today I told you guys what I think about what you should do in a situation with a person who doesn't tell the truth, it isn't the opinion it's an opinion, and if you think differently, right on!
This is a Ted Talk on lying, it's about 18 minutes long, but if you have time I would strongly suggest to listen to it.

https://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_hancock_3_types_of_digital_lies?language=en

Believe

One of the biggest questions is where did we come from? Some think we turned human from apes or evolution, and others believe that humans were created and did not evolve. The truth is, we'll never know. People have very heated debates over the theory of evolution/creation, but how can they do that when we don't have evidence to probe anything, and we know that we'll never know? The answer is because they believe. The people who are very biased one way or another simply believe that they are right, and the other opinion is wont. Now, believing is important more then just debating an opinion. If you don't believe in something you are living for nothing. Your belief might simply just be that there really is cheese on the moon. Of course I'm not saying it has to be simple. You may have a strong belief that there is a black hole that is going to destroy the entire human race. It doesn't mater what you believe, but as long as long as you are sure of a least one thing you will be a better person, and people will recognize that.

Being strong in a belief, and being mean about it, however are two very different things. While having a strong belief, you still need to listen to others opinions and reasons. You can still think that the moon is made out of cheese, and listen to why some people think it's made of moon dust (crazy, I know, but still) people ill respect someone who knows what they think/believe, and why, but that respect will decrease rapidly if you don't take time to listen to why they think differently. So my advise to you, is to find something that you believe in, but take time to listen to what others believe in also.