“It matters not what someone is born as, but what they grow to be” – Albus Dumbledore
I wanted to share this quote with you guys 🙂 It really resonates with me since it reminds me that I create myself. I sometimes feel that I have to just “work with what I got”. I forget that us, humans, are adaptable. We do great with change. In fact, we have been adapting since forever! I feel like it is important to remind ourselves that we CAN change if we put in the effort. We aren’t stuck with what we were born with. NO baby is born knowing calculus! We all learn the different subjects in school. Similarly, we can all learn to change the way we behave. Our whole lives we are learning and becoming better people. Our experience and knowledge shape who we are not what we were born with. Granted we are born with things that we keep with us as we age but there are certain things that we can change, such as our personality, and our knowledge. Remember you aren’t stuck with what you are born with… you can always change. All you need it the want to do so 🙂 –Pizza
The sad thing about life is: “The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.”
Credit: http://www.rogerknapp.com/inspire/highschool.htm
So, in the end, it is our job to motivate ourselves. I have a friend how is being really hard on herself about her grade in a class. She is starting to give up and she cries every day. I feel helpless… I can’t help her in that class. Me, not being her, can’t help her bring her self-esteem up. I can encourage her… which is what I have been doing but in the end, it is her thoughts that are making her feel that way. This experience has taught me that… everyone can encourage you and motivate you but it is YOU who has to take actions to make the changes necessary to do what you have to do. I am trying to motivate and encourage my friend as much as I can.. But I am also telling her that she has to take action too and make the difference in her grade.
-Pizza
Positivity
“Positive people will never let their fears keep them away from reaching their goals and dreams. They always try new things and realize that failures are also important on the road towards success. They realize that there are time for sadness and pain, but they still see lightness and beauty of life.”
Credit: http://www.inspirationalstories.eu
This is very true. I have seen it in myself actually whenever I am positive with myself. But to be honest with you, I often am not so positive with myself. It is hard to think on the bright side. It is easier, for me, to think that I will fail. This is partially why I joined Silver Lining 🙂 I thought, if I help other see the bright side of things maybe I will start to see it myself. It has helped 🙂 I am still a work in progress. Like the quote says, even for this adversity, I have to remember to not lose hope! So do you! Life is hard… but in the end it is how you look at it that makes it so. -Pizza
“A man’s favorite donkey falls into a deep precipice; He can’t pull it out no matter how hard he tries; He therefore decides to bury it alive.
Soil is poured onto the donkey from above. The donkey feels the load, shakes it off, and steps on it; More soil is poured.
It shakes it off and steps up; The more the load was poured, the higher it rose; By noon, the donkey was grazing in green pastures.
After much shaking off (of problems) And stepping up (learning from them), One will graze in GREEN PASTURES.”
This story has an important lesson of “learning from your mistakes and problems”. Throughout life we get these hardships to teach us… not to break us. They are there to help us learn and grow as people not to be salty. If you find yourself in a hardship, just focus on the learning and remember that all things that begin have to end… you will get through it.. I believe in you!
Credit: http://www.livin3.com/5-motivational-and-inspiring-short-stories
I am going to go to college soon.. And I’m scared. It’s not because I don’t want to go, but it’s because feel like I can’t be a kid anymore there.
I told my parents about this fear, and they said that I didn’t have to stop being a kid. This really struck me. I realized that in the end it was my decision how I treated the idea of going to college. I had chosen to see it as a milestone where I will be separated from my family and I will have to take the world on by myself. But it didn’t have to be that way.
I believe that our mind is so strong that if you think a certain way you will start to believe it. For me, thinking pessimistically is much easier than seeing the brighter side of the situation. Therefore, I was more inclined to think about college that way in the beginning. But now I have tried to change that way of thinking. I am looking more on the positive side of going to college. For example, I am thinking about how I will get to meet new people and maybe live in New York (which sounds amazing).
This idea of focusing on the other side can be applied to any situation.
For a pessimist it will remind them to think positively and not just end things because “they will never happen”.
For the optimist they have to remember to be careful in situations and not just think that everything will go their way. I don’t mean to put you down but sadly that is life… things don’t go your way.
Therefore, try to look at a situation from all perspectives before you make a decision. For me, I learned to look at the positive thoughts about going to college and now I am not so scared anymore.
-Pizza
Hurt. This is something I do often. Whenever someone is being rude or mean to me I still try to be nice to them. But sometimes I don’t know if I am hurting myself by doing that. Whenever these people make these rude or hurtful comments, I do get hurt but I just brush it off. I start to think of reasons why they are saying these things. I try to look at things from their perspective and justify that it is my fault.
The reason I do this is that “I don’t want to cause more trouble… they don’t deserve your anger”. Yes they are hurting me, but it doesn’t mean that I should be doing the same to them.
This is kind of weird but I compare what I do to Gandhi’s peaceful protest. He advised others to take and took himself the beating from the British while disobeying them. Similarly, I let them hurt me while I don’t succumb to their taunting. To be honest, they have made me more compassionate than angry. So, try to be nice whenever you can, being angry will only hurt you in the long run (since you may make some enemies or more scientifically it isn’t good for your health). Yes, it is hard, there were a countless amount of times where I wanted to talk back to them, but it will be worth it! 🙂
-Pizza
As a senior in high school, this is one of the most important times in my life. The college that I go to can determine a lot of my future, and that’s a terrifying prospect. Everything I do now related to college applications has to be flawless, or my life may end up ruined. Naturally, thinking about this is very stressful, to the point that I lose all of my motivation to work in fear of doing something wrong. I don’t know what I’m doing now, or what I have to do. I don’t even have a clear grasp on what I’ll do once I get to college.
It’s terrifying to be so unsure about something so important, but I can’t let that stop me. If I stop now because I’m unsure, then I really won’t get anywhere. I need to keep going, even if I don’t know, because not knowing is temporary. I’ll figure it out soon, but this is what I need to do now. It’s okay that I don’t know, and it’s okay if you don’t know something as well.
The point of living is to learn about yourself everyday, so you can’t have everything figured out right away. What’s important is that you keep moving and trying your best with whatever knowledge you do have, so you can learn what you don’t know. If you keep trying, you’ll get there soon. ~Patty
One thing that I struggle with the most is believing in myself. I often end up comparing myself to others a lot. This I feel like affects the way others see me. I am often shy or awkward in public situations. Not to mention, public speaking, to me, is a nightmare. But I have learned to deal with this and start to see that I should believe in myself. One quote that really resonates with me, especially when I am feeling down, is “if you don’t believe in yourself then no one will”. This quote is really blunt I guess but it does remind me to believe in myself. You know what I have come to realize is that believe in yourself is a really important part of being successful. Like the quote says if you don’t present yourself as confident, nobody is going to want to trust you in whatever you are trying to do. For example, you are trying to pitch a business idea but you don’t think yourself as worth or don’t think your pitch is good enough. This will show off in your performance. I this took me quite a while to learn…. Maybe some of you already know this. To be honest, I actually knew that I had to be confident but there is a difference between knowing it in your head versus knowing it in your heart. I have just recently started to actually believe in myself. It is never too late 🙂 Love yourself ❤ I promise you will thank yourself later 🙂
-Pizza
Happy Anti-Bullying Awareness Day!
We know that this was actually yesterday but we shouldn’t restrict ourselves because of that. Although many of us here at Lynbrook don’t think about bullying, as we don’t encounter it very often, it’s still a huge dilemma in many schools across the country. It’s important for us to recognize that bullying does not only mean physical harassment.
A general definition of bullying would be forcing people to do things they are not willing to. We know that there is immense peer pressure that exists at our campus. Although it may not stand out as bullying, whenever we judge what others wear or do or force our friends to join a club with us, that is in fact bullying. A great way to fight against this is to change our everyday behavior in very minor actions.
Instead of telling someone their outfit sucks, don’t comment anything if you don’t like it. Everyone has their own style and taste. Instead of forcing your friend to accompany you to a club meeting, ask them if they would like to join. Give them a chance to decide, don’t be the one taking decisions on their behalf. Little changes like these can help make a big difference if everyone follows through!
One pressure I feel at school is with grades. Whenever I get a quiz or test back, most of my friends come to me to compare grades. Sometimes, I don’t do as well as I had hoped and I prefer not to share my grades, but the atmosphere of the class makes it really hard not to. People peak over my shoulder and try to glance at my paper. At this point, I kind of give up and share my grades, but not whole-heartedly. I am sure people don’t realize that they are doing this and it sometimes hurts others, but it’s about time everyone does. It’s time to speak out and express our true feelings about these pressures!
Peer pressure is a very subtle form of bullying and sometimes very hard for us to even tell that we are pressuring someone. The best way to stop ourselves from peer pressuring is to put ourselves in the other person’s show. Always remember one thing, “Be sure to taste your words before you spit them.” – BullyVille.com
-Love Panda
Hello!!
Silver Lining 