Scott Schimmel 0:20
Hey, folks, welcome to another episode of YouSchool podcast. I'm your host, Scott. And normally these episodes are for frankly, adults, parents, and educators, people work with kids. But this episode is not for you. It's for the kids in your life. And it's gonna be super short, very practical. And to the point, so here's the idea- school is starting. And just take a second and think about the emotions that that brings up. And for most kids, there's like a mixture, like there was for me, whether it's going back to work, seeing friends I haven't seen in a while, or of course, going back to school when I was a kid, and there's a mixture of like, anticipation, excitement, you know, got new clothes, maybe a new haircut, maybe you got a tan over the summer. But on the other side of that would be the anticipation of things going wrong. Anxiety, things that are out of your control, which is just a very normal just to name it. It's not all excitement. Like the commercials want you to feel your mom wants to, Grandma wants to talk to you about. There's also a sense of anxiety, fear. You know, are you going to like your teachers? Are they going to be too intense? Are you're going to have the right lunch and sit by your friends? Is he or she going to notice you this year? Like all all those things. Is your schedule okay? I mean, are you wearing the right things? Does your face look okay? Have you grown enough? Have you grown too much? Like all that stuff is mixed in with, yeah, you get to see your friends. Yeah, you get to see him or see her. Yeah, you get to get out of the house and quit being around your annoying parents. But the fact is, and here's what this episode is about this quick conversation, just a few minutes. What do you want this year? What do you want for this year to go well? if you can kind of go forward in time, next May, next June and you're looking back? What are the things that you would say would define you being able to honestly say this has been the best year ever? I'm just going to walk you through a few ideas. Number one, your grades. Schoolwork. What kind of student do you want to be? Not your parents. Not your friends. Not with this, like intense reality of college admissions. Not based on anything that's been true in your past. Not based on an IEP or 504 that you have. But what kind of student do you want to be? And how do you want to see that reflected in your grades? The one of the biggest transitions your parents are trying to make and the adults in your life are trying to make is for you to take ownership of your life. This is your life, not theirs. And even if you don't have a long term perspective about your future, being an adult, you will be an adult someday, you are going to grow up. I didn't think that. I never thought that when I was 10 or 12, or 15, or 18. But the fact is the choices you make now do affect the future. So without your parents listening, without you're getting lectured. What kind of grades do you want? And what are you going to do about it? Where are you going to sit in class, if it's a choice? Who are you going to sit by? How are you going to take notes? Will you take notes? How are you going to raise your hand or not raise your hand? Are you going to go to office hours? Are you going to go on to like YouTube or Khan Academy? Are you going to get a tutor? It's I mean, honestly, it's up to you. Secondly, friends. Most of the time, I think kids and myself included get stuck thinking that who my friends are is who my friends are. And it's fixed. Number one that I don't have the capacity, it's not possible for me to make other friends. That's not true. Number two, that the way my friends are, the friendships are, the way the things we talk about things we joke about things we do or don't do together. That's fixed and stuck. Also not true. What does it look like for you to take a step back and try to think about the kinds of friends that you want? And you might find Okay, so funny. truth teller, someone that I can be honest with someone that likes to organize things, like people who want to go outside and do stuff, or people that want to game or people that are into music, or people who don't just try to be popular, like what kinds of friends do you want? And what are you going to do to move towards those kinds of people? And honestly, I know this sounds lame. What does it look like for you to even kind of make a list, mental list in your head, of the people that you can imagine becoming friends with? And again, you're not two so mommy's not going to make a playdate for you. What does it look like for you to take some moves? To spend a bit more time in proximity to those kinds of people? Or what could it look like for you to rearrange and adjust the conversations that you have with your friends starts with this? Hey, what if we fill in the blank... Third, activities. You're probably involved in something outside of school- sports, dance music, something. What do you want? What do you what kind of athlete Are you going to be? What kind of participant in play are you going to be? What kind of dancer are you going to be? It's, you know, you have a schedule, they tell you when to show up. They tell you the drills to run. What are you going to do? Fourth, your family. How do you want your family to be this year? Habits. What are the things, the routines, the choices that you can make, that will help set you up to be at your best. And we have this little worksheet, you can just click the link in the show notes here. And honestly, if you write down your thoughts, that's actually pretty good. If you just think about it, that's not bad, either. But if you talk out loud with a friend, or maybe your parents or someone else who you look up to, really, really good. So thinking about your mental health, thinking about you at your best. When you when should you go to sleep? Like you know, when should you go to sleep? When do you need to wake up? What are the best foods for you to feel good about your body and feel good inside your body? What are the, what's the exercise? What's the movement? What's the being creative? What is the listening to music? The people that you see? What are the habits that you need? Gratitude exercises, walks in nature, like all the stuff that you learn in your advisory or homeroom, all that crap. Like, what are you going to do? What are the habits? I mean, again, this is your life. This is like up to you. And again, adults are gonna try to fix some of these things and arrange and organize but it is up to you. So that's the last question Ryan Gosling asked it in The Notebook. What do you want? What do you want? And what do you need to make this the best year ever? Again, worksheet, just pull it up on your phone, a few questions for you to think about the stuff we just covered. That'd be pretty cool, if in a few months, you realize things have changed, because you got clear about what's most important to you. The ambitions and goals that you have the kind of person you want to be. And you didn't leave that to chance you didn't feel like it was just a fixed reality. That you took the initiative, you've made some moves to move towards who you're supposed to be. That's it. That's the episode. See ya. Best year ever. It's up to you, bye. Hey, thanks for joining in on the YouSchool podcast. We'd love to share with you the resources available on our website at theyouschool.com not just articles, ebooks, worksheets and other podcast episodes. But specifically you should know about a free course we have available called The Real Me course. It's digital, it's interactive, and it will guide you to get clear about who you are in a great story you could tell with your life. So go register for a free account and get started on The Real Me course today at theyouschool.com That's the you school dot com.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
