Y is for You (Secondary)

you are what you think

We’re going to talk all about you! You might find this uncomfortable, you might want to ignore everything here. Because we’ll be talking about the you who is an amazing friend, son/daughter, the you who is a one of a kind, awesome human. There’s literally only one you in the world and we’re hopefully going to help you realise it!

Being aware of ourselves is one of the key pillars of resilience, our ability to recognise our positive qualities and strengths.

---

1. Sometimes we’re so busy, caught up in our thoughts that we forget just how much we’ve come through, how many challenges we’ve dealt with. One way to remind ourselves is to do a ‘Reverse Bucket List’. You’ve probably heard of a bucket list - that list of things you want to do with your life - well this is the opposite, this is a list of ALL the things you’ve already done. Take a piece of paper or in your journal, write or draw all the changes you’ve noticed that you’ve dealt with, the changes to your mind & body, the changes in how you feel about yourself. Put in meaningful events, remind yourself of the teeny/tiny things too, nothing is off limits here! Read it back, notice how it makes you feel to reflect on everything that you’ve come through to get to this present moment

2. We bet you’re an amazing friend & if one of your pals had a problem you’d be there in a heartbeat! Take a moment, remind yourself of a time recently when you helped out your friend, what did you say, how did you say it? Now turn that gaze on yourself - think of a time when you felt pretty low, what did you say to yourself then, how did you say those words? Notice any differences between the two incidents - in other words, did you treat yourself the same way you treated your pal? Can you think of ways you could be more supportive to yourself / could you write your very own kindness list perhaps? Every single day, go to your kindness list & see if you can do ONE thing from your list

3. Finally, do this ‘special strengths’ practice to remind yourself just how awesome YOU are

Final Take

Take a moment and think of people who you look up to, who you admire - perhaps they’re people you know or perhaps they’re famous people What qualities do these people have - physically and mentally, what is it about them that you admire? Now turn that gaze on yourself and ask what are my strengths, how have I shown strength recently & what strength can I grow today? Perhaps allow a little moment where you notice that you too have amazing strengths that are worthy of being celebrated

“this above all: to thine own self be true”

— Polonius - in William Shakespeare's Hamlet

---

---

The not-so-small small print

There is none! Simply return to this part of the website daily to get the next part of this program. No payment or subscription required. This is a resource we are sharing with all of you through the website and aiming to help our youngsters, in the various stages of their lives. This program contains information and practices that are aimed for two different age groups and we intend to mostly post the primary level information in the morning and the secondary level in the afternoon. Please leave us a comment and let us know how you are getting on or get in touch if you require additional support. If you want to be notified of new content, courses and free resources subscribe to our mailing list.

---