Empowering Choices for Teens

Every day, we are faced with a multitude of choices. These choices have a huge impact on how we choose to live our lives. Our choices affect our mood, and influence the quality of our relationships with ourselves, our friends, our school experience, and our world.

If we look at people who have made a great difference in the world, we see that they have made courageous choices. They decided to go in the opposite direction of what they should be and focused on what they could be. They weren’t trying to fit in, wanting to please others, or spending precious time complaining or whining about their circumstances. They are investigating their options, seeking out  answers, taking action, and learning (not complaining) from their experiences.

Whenever we’re faced with a choice, decision or opportunity, we should ask our self this question: “Will this choice propel me toward an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?” Start paying attention to you’re thinking, your actions and connect to the why you are allowing yourself to make choices that dim your light.

Choices we are making that dim our light could look like this:

• Being around people who criticize you, or are constantly jealous of you
• Trying to be nice
• Trying to get other’s approval
• Lying to yourself
• Gossiping
• Not caring about other people’s feelings
• Comparing yourself to others
• Judging yourself
• Looking to others (boyfriends, girlfriends) to make you happy
• Thinking that others are better than you
• Overeating and not taking care of yourself
• Deflecting compliments
• Trying to be someone that you’re not
• Ignoring your gut, your inner voice

When we’re committed to a long-term goal,  we feel empowered to make the right choices. When we have a long-term goal, we can stand in the vision of our future and see the difference between a choice that is moving us on the path to that vision or a choice that is just bringing short-term  gratification.

Another important question to ask yourself is “Do my choices reflect standing in my power, or do they reflect wanting to please another?” Instead of giving away our power to get others to like us, we establish a strong foundation on which we build “who we are” and “what we stand for.“ We build this unshakable foundation by trusting in our self, living in our own personal integrity.

As we practice standing in our own truth, we grow into the most amazing, happy and fulfilled person, as we become a major player, — a mover and shaker of the world. We go from just coasting along without direction to living on purpose, where an irresistible force drives us onward. We have a unique purpose for being alive, and the things that matter most to us are the ones guiding us to fulfill that purpose.