A Chillin Blog Just for Teens

A blog to empower teens with knowledge and mindful living. To help you make your life better by strengthening your mind, your body and your spirit.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Secrets of Life No One's Telling Teens

What do you want to be when you grow up?

For a while, I kept asking myself that question. Funny thing was, I was already forty when I was asking it. And, I had already been a lawyer for seventeen years. When I got tired of reading boring 40-page technical documents and arguing with bald men, I retired from my law practice and searched for something new. There were lots of stories circling around in my head. I began to write them down. That's when I found writing again. I started writing picture books. I wrote ten. Then I aged a bit into middle-grade novels. I wrote one and called it Zeek the Geek. It was about a group of kids who got bullied, so they formed a secret society in school after recruiting kids with special gifts. Zeek's gift was that he had a photographic memory and could play a mean saxophone, putting his audience into a hypnotic state. The group banned together and stopped the bullying using some pretty unique methods. Someday, I'll go back and revise that one.

I moved into young adult and teen novels. I wrote five more, three of them in verse. I'm working on getting those published. I feel like I get closer every day. In the meantime, I keep on writing, which leads me to my current endeavor. I finally realized what I've known all along. It suddenly became clear to me. I want to write for teens.

It's not because I want to be one. (I was one, and that wasn't an experience I'd care to relive.) It's because I understand you, and I feel I can make life better for you. At least, I want to try. I have a lot to say to you (stuff my own teens are totally sick of hearing). It's because I believe in you, and I recognize that the world needs you to succeed and be happy so that the future of our world can be happy too.

That's why I started this blog, A Chillin' Blog Just for Teens (and their parents too, if they want to read along). I'm going to make you some promises up front.

Here goes: I won't preach to you, and I won't judge you, but I will write about things that I believe can make your life better. It might feel like you're on the receiving end of advice sometimes. But, I won't lecture. I know how much teens hate getting a lecure. I'll always be truthful, and I won't tell you anything that I don't believe to be true and haven't already told my own teens. I may eventually talk politics because I think, as a teen, it's important to start to think about those things. It's your future. It's your country. And, yes, it's okay to mention God in my blog. I'd love it if you write me to let me know what topics concern you and what you'd like to read about and talk about.

I hope you enjoy my blog, but, more importantly, I hope it makes life better for you. You may not always agree with me. Please feel free to tell me (respectfully, of course). Just think of this blog as your own personal life coach and mentor.

Chill on.



Monday, April 11, 2011

Get Out Bald Spot

Why would anyone want to do hard work when they could just chill? I mean, think about it. You're sitting on the couch, actually even better, lying down. You've got an iced mocha extra, extra within reach. Your head is leaning on a pillow. Your legs are covered by a blanket. There's even a bag of tortilla chips within reach. Oh, and the Celtics game is on. It's all good. It'd better than good. It's heaven.


Okay, so now, your dad comes into the room. He wants you to leave your cozy station and put the trash out. Then he wants you to sweep the garage and vacuum his car. You ask him what he's smoking (in your head, of course). You keep looking straight ahead at the game, hoping he's only a bald-spotted hallucination that will disappear as quickly as he appeared. When he doesn't, disappear, that is, you try to engage him in the game. Maybe he'll want to watch it with you. It will pass, this chore thing. Just don't breathe.


But, he's not going away. He's more persistent than that fly that landed on your lunch today at school. Only, he can't be swatted away as easily. So, you look up at the ceiling and ask, why me? Face it, the last thing you want to do is get off the couch and start working--hard. So, why get up? Give me one good reason. Actually, give me three.


One--because he said so, and there's probably some uncomfortable consequence to telling him to take a hike.


Two--because the work needs to get done, and it's the right thing to do to get up and help your parents. You know that already. But, it doesn't make it any easier.


Three--Hard work is good for you. What???

Do you know that feeling you get after you run five mile, or finish a forty-page term paper, or clean you room? It's the return on sweat equity, and it's called accomplishment. The feeling of accomplishmwent goes a long way. the harder the work, the better the feeling. It may make your body feel tired, but your head will feel good. Hard work keeps you healthy and makes you happy. It clears your head and your heart. It can bring you the answers to problems you were struggling to figure out. When you do nothing, you get nothing. When you do something hard, you get a return on that investment. Maybe you won't see it right away, but it's there. You stack three cords of wood, you end up with muscle to show for it. You're building yourself, physically, mentally, and in a lot of other important ways.


You feel happy because you did the right thing. You feel happy because you accomplished something. You feel happy because you challenged yourself and because you contributed to your family. Your dad's no longer frustrated with you. In fact, he's thinking you're pretty cool right about now, and he's bringing you a bowl of popcorn to devour while you finish the game.


And, think how good that cozy spot on the couch will feel now that you're done!


Read: Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris


Banish the Green Lizards

I went to bed feeling incredibly beat last night. As I settled my head into my pillow and curled up on my side, I could almost taste the good night sleep I was about to get. But, instead of floating on white clouds, I spent the night fighting off a giant lizard with only my television remote (attached to the end of my cell phone charger) and my seventy-pound karate-chopping brother at my side. The giant lizard thing was licking its black teeth with its elastic tongue and dripping with full intent to eat my brother and me for a late-night snack. We screamed as we struggled to barricade the door to my room. The worst part was that, just when we thought we had shut the nasty thing out, it proved capable of turning my door knob and letting itself back into my room. Scaly green lizards with pointy claws aren't supposed to be able to do that. The struggle went on for what felt like hours and hours as I thrashed about in my bed, believing I had a chance against the slimy monster. Then, as I slowly reentered the conscious world, I vowed that when I woke up, if I woke up, the first thing I'd do was fix that lock on my bedroom door.


Sometimes it's difficult to figure out why we're having nightmares. Everything might seem okay in school. Our conscience is clear. We're even getting along with our parents. But, anxiety lurks deep below the surface. So deep, we may not even know we're struggling with it. It's probably best not to spend too much time interpreting our dreams. So what if the green lizard represents your girlfriend's father and you secretly hoped he'd eat your little brother first? Yeah, of course nightmares mean something. But, probably more important than figuring out what they mean is paying attention to why we might be dreaming at all. Even better, is figuring out how we might be able to come up with a better night's sleep.


So, if your sleep is filled with slimy green lizards, you might want to try this: Before you go to bed, sit on your bed--upright. Close your eyes, maybe rest your hands on your lap, and empty your mind of all thoughts. Dump everything that happened that day, everything that might happen tomorrow. Actually picture those things flowing out your ears. Now, sit there longer, with an empty mind, no thoughts, no worries, no fears, nothing. Just an empty mind.


You're shutting out the thoughts. But, they're stubborn, those fears about whether you passed your calculus test, they'll keep sneaking back into your head and you won't even notice. Take notice. Then, kick them out. Keep your mind empty for as long as you can. Try it again in the morning, maybe while you're brushing your teeth. You can clear your mind while you're driving (turn Eminem off). The more often you can empty your mind, the better.


Now, when it's time to shut the light and get in bed in search of some zzzzs, you'll have more than a television remote and a skinny little brother to keep the giant lizard away.