Day Six: Genuine Compliments

Don’t you love it when someone randomly compliments you?  I know it really makes my day.  So today, since I had to work 12 until 8, I decided I was going to give genuine compliments to as many people as possible.

Do you know what my favorite thing about giving compliments is?  Seeing the people respond to the compliments.  Today, when I told a woman that came into work that I absolutely adored her top, she cheesed out.  Total complete smiling.

Compliments make people feel good.

Giving compliments allows you to look at people in positive ways.  When you actively look for nice things to say, you will notice more positive features in the people around you.

I challenge you all to start giving people honest compliments.  HOWEVER!  There is a key to giving out tons of compliments- they really do have to be HONEST.  People can tell when a compliment is insincere.  Insincere compliments just make you look like a jerk.

And for goodness’s sake!  DO NOT give a compliment because you want a compliment it return!

One more thing I want to cover today is what you should do when someone gives you a compliment.  Some people deny the compliment to try to be modest.  Some do it because they don’t believe it’s true.  And the worst response?  When people totally ignore the compliment and change the subject.

Don’t shy away from compliments.  You are just as entitled to receive them as everyone else.

Just smile and say thank you.

Day Five: Signing Petitions

Have you ever wanted to make a big difference?  Do something that moves and inspires the world? Maybe I'm crazy, but

I've always wanted to.

It's true.  Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to help people.  I've wanted to make lives better.  In fact, when I was about five years old, I sat myself down to contemplate the meaning of life.  And it didn't take me long to conclude that the meaning of life is to help each other.

I mean, we are all here on this earth together.  And from birth, we are taught that being selfish isn't right.  So I just put two and two together.  And honestly?

I haven't changed my mind since.

The best way I've found to move and inspire the world is on change.org.  On this website, you can sign petitions and literally change lives.

My first petition I signed was for Ms. Diane Tran.  She was an 11th grade student in Texas.  She maintained a full time job and a part time job to sustain herself and her siblings.  She was an honor student taking advancement and dual credit college level courses.  And she was ordered by a judge to pay a $100 fine and spend 24 hours in a jail for missing to much school.

What?!

 

I almost cried when I heard this story.  She's taking care of her siblings because her parents weren't there and telling someone would result in Diane and her siblings to be split into foster homes. She was trying to do GOOD THING.  She was working with what she had, making the most of her situation.  Instead of jail time and a fine, this girl should be given a medal!

 

Once I signed this petition, I little while later I opened an e-mail telling me that the petition had been passed.  The judge has dropped the charges and Diane now has more then $70,000 in donations.  I'm glad that Diane's story got a happy ending.

 

This ending will be a beautiful beginning for her.

 

I strongly suggest you sign up for an account at change.org.  Use it to your full advantage and spread the word to others about the issues and what they can do to help.  It's free and you are really making a difference.

 

Today,

 

-- I signed a petition to make Dunkin Donuts stop using styrofoam cups and switch to a more eco-friendly solution.

 

-- I signed a petition to make Crayola, a company that makes about half a billin markers a year ("...that's enough markers to wrap around the earth more then three times!"), start a marker recycling program.

 

And the petition I felt strongest about:

 

--I signed a petition to make Teen Vogue stop using photoshop.

 

Now I could go on and on about these issues and what I think about them, but that needs to be saved for another day. 

 

I've just leave you with this: Please, please, PLEASE sign up for Change.org.  Learn about the issues, sign the petitions, and tell spread the word.  AGAIN, it's completely free.  And you really can make a difference.

 

You have the power to make the world a better place.

Day Four: Getting to Know Someone

In 2000, the average size of an American high school is 752 students.

 

752 students.

 

In my high school in particular there are exactly 99 students.

And how many do I actually talk to?  Or better yet, how many do I ever have a real heart-to-heart conversation with?

 

I’m a very social person.  If you want to talk to me, I’ll talk.  And I’ll enjoy it!  I mean, as a former-hostess-promoted-to-waitress it’s my JOB to be able to carry a conversation.  However, in a regular day, I probably talk to about 20 students.  And the amount of people I ever have a real heart-to-heart with amounts to...three people.   My boyfriend and my two best friends.

So today, my positive act was having a heart-to-heart conversation with two people I don’t normally talk to.

These people opened up to me about their past and how they feel about life.  And it was pretty unusual for me.  I said I was social, but I don’t really talk about my feelings.  And I really don’t have a past to talk about- besides the time I puked on my reader’s theater partner in kindergarten and the time I wrote an anonymous love letter in first grade.

Get to know people.  Learn their past.  And when someone else tries to judge them and criticize who they are, stand up for them.  Like I said in a post prior to this one:

You never know someone’s story.

Day Three: Spend Time with People You Love

I have a very busy lifestyle as a high school student- much like a majority of the kids at my school.  I maintain a solid 3.9 GPA in school.  I’m in Oral Interp and FCCLA.  I just got a promotion at work.  I even have a boyfriend, who happens to be very needed and time-consuming.  (Just kidding babe!)

So in the mix of homework, house chores, and running to the bank to cash my paychecks, some things get pushed to the wayside.   Last year, for example, sleep was the last thing on my list of priorities.  And it made me CRANKY!  Seriously, if I don’t get a full eight hours of sleep, I’m a complete grouch.  So this year, I swapped my lack of sleep for a lack of a social life.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love my friends and family with all my heart.  I just forget to really appreciate sometimes.

So today, my mom, best friend, and I went shopping.

I know.  It doesn’t really sound like a big deal.  But, to me, it is.  I don’t spontaneously go shopping with the people I love.  I don’t spontaneously do ANYTHING.  And I think it meant a lot to my mom and best friend.  I know it meant a lot to me.

It felt good to spend time with them.

I chose to journal this as my positive act of the day because I want to highlight the fact that you should cherish the people you have in your life.  The people you love might not always be around.  That’s something I need to remember.

That’s something I think we all need to remember.

Day Two: The Thank You Letter

I don’t know about you, but when it’s my birthday, I don’t shut up about it.  My constant ramblings about it amount to the equivalent of a radio advertisement.  I tell teachers, friends, family, dentists, random people on the street…all multiple times.  And last Sunday I turned 18.  So, as you can imagine, my endless banters increased tenfold.

Something else you may not know about me is that I mentor for fifth grade.  I correct papers, clean and organize the classroom, and answer students’ questions.  What’s really cool is that the fifth grade teacher is the same teacher I had in elementary school- my favorite teacher I’ve had my entire school career.

It goes without saying that my big, excited, almost-18-year-old mouth told my favorite teacher about my birthday probably weeks before it was even September.  And she remembered.  And she made it amazing.

It was 9:10 on Thursday, September 6th*. (See!  This meant so much to me I remember almost everything- even the littlest details.  I NEVER remember the little details.)  The second period bell echoed through the halls as I walked into the fifth grade classroom.  I recall that the lights were off and a feeling of anticipation washed through me.  Mentoring is my favorite part of the day.

I was venturing to my student mentoring desk as the entire classroom burst into singing!

“Happy birthday to you!  Happy birthday to you!...”

When the singing was over a giant, homemade card popped out of nowhere!  All the kids had signed it with squiggly letters and misspelled words.  It made me so happy!

A little boy even gave me a beautiful bookmark!  Beaming, I walked out of the classroom to put up social studies projects in the hallway, and when I came back to my desk, a Maurice’s gift card greeted me.

It was an amazing birthday.

*Because of Homecoming on September 7^th and the weekend, the fifth graders couldn’t celebrate my birthday on its exact day, September 9^th.

I wanted to do something to show my supreme gratitude for what the fifth graders did for me.  So, in the spirit of my senior project, I wrote a thank you letter!

 My mom always stressed thank you letters.  In fourth grade I had my ninth birthday party.  And after all the cake was eaten and presents where opened, my mom forced me the write thank you letters.  I thought it was the stupidest thing in the world.

I mean, I already said thank you!  Why should I have to do it again?  So reluctantly, I wrote 20-some Thank You’s with no effort at all.  And my mom had me rewrite each one of them.

Now that I’m 18, I know the importance of writing thank you letters.  The person who gave you something doesn’t HAVE to give you it.  They went out of their way to make YOUR life better.  You need to be grateful and, more importantly, SHOW your thankfulness.

Thank you letters don’t have to be anything huge and expensive.  The one I created was made of construction paper for crying out loud!  Just make sure to put in as much time and effort in it as you can.

And most of the time, people give you extra props if you give them something sweet.

:)

Day One: World Suicide Prevention Day

 To Write Love on Her Arms Mission Statement:

"To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery."

  

For my first day of my senior project I wanted to do something big.  Something fantastic to really get this thing started.  I want to grab people's attention.

 

And what better way to grab people's attention then to wear yellow?

 

As I was brainstorming ideas to kick this project off, many ideas popped into my head.  But the idea I chose to follow was one that came to me in a text message.

 

"Suicide awareness day tomorrow.  Wear yellow or write love on your arms!(:"

 

That is the exact text message that my best friend sent me.  She's big with TWLOHA, and I wanted to show my support.  So what did I do?  I wore yellow AND I wrote love on my arms.

 

 

 

I wanted my first day to be something everyone could do in their everyday life.  And I want 98% of this month to be that way as well.  Passing around good deeds and positivity isn't something that always has to be a "big deal" and it most certainly doesn't have to come in the form of money.

 

Some of my friends also participated in World Suicide Prevention Day.

 

 

World Suicide Prevention Day

 

On http://www.twloha.com/facts/ I learned some interesting facts about suicide.  They stated that the World Health Organization estimates that about one million people die from suicide a year.  And that number is only going up.  There has been a 60% increase of suicide rates in the last 45 years, and by 2020 experts say that that rate will increase to one death every 20 seconds.

 

One suicide every 20 seconds.

 

As it is, suicide is one of the three leading causes of death for both males and females between the ages of 15 and 44.  What’s even scarier is that the young people suicide group is at the highest risk of suicide in one third of all countries in the world.

 

That's one third to many if you ask me.

 

Suicide is only getting worse, which is why I want to raise awareness for it.  And although all suicide is tragic, I really want to emphasis teen suicide.  As a teenager myself, it’s hard to believe that other teens are tempted to end their own life.

 

So what causes teen suicide?  On www.kidshealth.org/teen it says that “most teens do it because they were trying to escape from a situation that seemed impossible to deal with or to get relief from really bad thoughts or feelings.”

That means is that teenagers do it because they felt alone and helpless.  Maybe that loneliness was caused by a loss of a loved one or because they were having trouble developing their identity.  Maybe it was because of their parent’s divorce or constant bullying.

 

If you go to bed tonight only knowing one thing, please let it be this:

 

You never know what someone’s story is- what they are feeling, what goes on at home- and your actions can make or break someone.