Life's pressures

Life is not always easy and everyone feels like throwing in the towel at some point in time and often this stress becomes the focal point in your mind.

Everything seems to be affected by this issue and it is hard to take your mind off it and other smaller issues attach themselves to this big issue, almost like a snowball that keeps getting bigger and running over everything in sight.

Just like this snowball you start running over everyone in sight. You start snapping at everyone around you, throwing your cell phone (your most prized possession) into tiny pieces against the wall…

The moment you pick up the pieces, you feel even worse – how did you get so angry?

I have been there too. I have broken many cell phones and other things of sentimental value and hated myself for it. Until the day when I thought I had broken my laptop. That was the worst, but also the best as I had a light bulb moment that day.

Throwing things around and breaking valuables is just stupid – sorry, but there’s no excuse for it. Only a brat would waste money like that.

If you battle to control your anger and other emotions, you need to learn to compartmentalize.

Imagine that you have a big shelf with a number of ‘compartments’ for each area of your life: one for each family member, one for school, one for friends, etc. Now everything relating to each of those compartments goes in the appropriate box.

To put it into perspective, you need to keep school at school and home at home. Likewise, if your sister makes you angry, do not take it out on your mother. If you fail a test, do not take it out on your cell phone. Compartmentalizing takes practice, but it makes life easier. It also keeps you in control and shows that you are mature.

Another part of compartmentalizing is that you should not dwell on issues. If you have an argument with your boyfriend, do not let it spoil your girls’ lunch.

You should never give any issue more time or energy than it is worth as every 60 seconds you waste is a minute in your life that you will not get back.

I have nothing to live for

I am sure that each teenager at some point in their life, thinks about committing suicide. As a teenager we do not have the necessary coping skills to deal with life’s problems and often these problems feel too large to cope with on our own and oftentimes, we do not feel that we have the support structure to talk to and help us through our problems. I myself have thought about it numerous times and only now as a parent myself I can see why it is always a bad idea.

God has given us everything we need and enough of it to deal with each problem in life. Suicide is never solution, it is a simply an easy way out and shows that you do not have good coping skills to deal with life and that you don’t put your trust in God.

Have you ever lost someone to suicide? I have not personally, but I have a friend who lost her father to suicide and today, eight years later she is still mourning for him along with her mother, sisters and the rest of her family. Do you really want to put your family through that agony?

Teens sometimes want to commit suicide when they feel they don’t get enough attention and if they hurt themselves, it will show their parents that they need attention. They don’t intend to commit suicide, but freak accidents happen, resulting in your family being broken apart and you still don’t get attention. Statistics show that up to 80% of marriages fail after the loss of a child.

Rather start using some tips I will share towards the end of the book to find purpose in your life and learn to look for an opportunity in each situation instead of spiraling into a dark pit of depression.