Welcome back to another Ultimate Guide To Being A Teenager. How are you? I hope you are doing well. I thought I would do a little introduction for those of you who missed reading the first version of this little ‘advice post’… So, okay I’m only 2 years into teenage life, but I feel like I have a few ideas of what can help me, and you. I’m not here to tell you what to do, or how you should be, I’m here to voice my opinion… just like I do in every single other post on this little blog of mine. In this version (2.0), I’m going to talk about motivation, positivity and believing in yourself. If you want to skip to certain sections to help you, click on the links just below… Enjoy!

POSITIVITY – MOTIVATION – BELIEVE IN YOURSELF – FREE DOWNLOADS

Staying Positive: Staying positive is important, not just for teens but for anyone, but seeing as this is the Ultimate Guide to Being a Teenager (2.0) I’m going to focus on ‘our kind’ of positivity. Exams, peer pressure and personal stresses can really put a toll on your life, so you need to make sure you have a clear mindset. A lot of people think positivity just means happiness, but it doesn’t. It means looking at your situation and turning it at a different angle. I’ve devised a method which should help…

 Take a piece of paper and write down what each ingredient means for you, stick it up and have it as a reminder!

Situation: Whether this is exam stress, peer pressure a family situation or even a break-up, you need to work out what part of your life you want to brighten up.

Routine: In my honest opinion, to lead a positive life, you need routine. You need to be able to know what is happening next. Perhaps you will wake up and get ready the same way each day or go for a run after school; things like this will help more than you think.

Happiness & Support: These two ingredients tie in; to keep yourself positive you need to be surrounded by a happy support network. Do you really think you can lead a positive life if you have not-so-positive people around you? You need people to be there for you, and people to support your decisions. I know there will be people out there feeling like they don’t have any support around them, and there are plenty of ways to find new people. Go out, join extra curricular activities… perhaps it’s another reason to start a blog? The community will welcome you with big arms, we’re here to help! Adding this ingredient to the above will in turn, help others… you’ll be a supportive and happy person for them!

End goal: I know this might sound weird, but if you take your situation and think about what you could gain from it, it will help you! Set a goal, try and take down the barriers that are in your way. If you have motivation, it will spread through your life and you will feel so much better about ourself in the end.

Create or print off a motivational poster with your goals and aims and stick to it. Push yourself!

Keep Motivated: I feel like on my blog I come across as quite a motivated person (…do I?), and I’m not saying that that’s a lie, but I think it’s mainly because I love blogging and fashion so much. To be honest, in everyday life I’m not the most motivated person. If someone asks me to do something, I don’t respond quickly if I don’t feel like completing the task… I hope I’m not alone.  In the past month or so I think I have started to get better… I have more of a focus and I have stuff in the pipeline which I truly want to get done. These are a few things which I believe will help…

Find a hobby: Rather basic I know, but I have realised that the more stuff which I have going on which I enjoy doing; the more I get done in day to day life. It’s like your brain almost wants you to get stuff out of the way to get on with what you love. Get outside, explore, do something different. Try what you have never felt like trying until now. Maybe start a blog! I honestly cannot rate it enough. It’s one of the best decisions I have made. If you have motivation for one thing, you are bound to have motivation for everything else.

Push yourself: It might not be easy, but just telling yourself that you have to do what you have to do, can really help. Just keep saying in your mind that you need to do this. Reward yourself afterwards. After your exams, go out and buy yourself a new pair of shoes. Whatever takes your fancy, just keep pushing yourself. Soon it will set in and you will sit down and be motivated in everything you do. Just erm, be careful on the reward side… don’t blame me if you break the bank!

Start a blog, diary or a memory jar. Reflect on what you have achieved!

Believe In Yourself: Being able to believe in yourself is especially hard as a teen. Through the exam period you can feel like you have completely failed if you don’t get the results you were hoping for. Even when your parents are annoyed at you, you can just feel so down in the dumps, it’s not fun at all. Being motivated partly helps but just being able to say ‘Yeah, I can do this, I am not a failure, and I am a strong person’ is a huge achievement. This isn’t just handy for that kind of thing, looking at yourself and seeing true beauty is important too. Being proud of whom you are and what you believe in is admirable if you forget about what other people say. In this little ‘guide’ before, I talked about physical growth and believing in yourself in that way, so make sure to check out version 1.0 here.

Look at how far you have come: Sort of like what we did with positivity, look at your situation every now and again and see what barriers you have crossed. A nice thing to do is to start a diary (or a blog!) to keep check of things you have achieved. It’s so nice to reflect every now and again, and I believe it makes you a stronger person when you realise how strong you really are. You will realise your potential!

Stop comparing yourself: This is probably one of the hardest things you can overcome. I struggle with this a lot being a blogger, so I understand if you find this hard too. Combining the last step with a little bit of what I mentioned in the last guide (version 1.0), you will become far better at this. Looking at other people is like looking at a piece of dust. It has no relevancy as to where you are now personally. Just because someone might have X, Y, Z, doesn’t mean they don’t have the A,B,C that you have too. We all have our own goals and our own barriers, so you have to realise that this little journey you are on, is bound to be different. The situation you are in now might change, you have no idea.

If you’re comparing your looks, or your abilities and talents, try and stop yourself. We are all different, and we can’t change that! Just because something looks rosy and sunny, doesn’t mean it is rosy and sunny underneath the surface. Okay, let’s not get too deep here… but I hope you get what I mean 🙂

iPhone (640 x 960) – iPad (2048 x 2048)

To round off The Ultimate Guide To Being A Teenager Version 2.0, I have decided to give you a little something extra. Above I have made 2 motivational, cute and quirky (TDP style) iPhone and iPad backgrounds to use on your lock screens! They’re just a little reminder to keep your positive and motivated as a teen. Click the link of which ever you want, and save it to your preferred device! My favourite is probably the iPhone one, do let me know if you use it, perhaps tweet me with a screenshot? I’d love to see them in use.

I really hope this has been helpful, just like last year. I genuinely put a lot of work into these, so I do really appreciate your feedback. Leave a comment below with any questions, and perhaps some suggestions for Version 3.0?! Chin up, believe in yourself and think happy thoughts 🙂