As Year 12 students prepare for their final exams it's important to remember that you are more than your ATAR. In her recent post, educator Linda Stade, pointed out, "Approximately 50 % of Australian students go on to university studies at some point. Of them, 26% of students use an ATAR score to enter university. The rest use alternative entrance platforms. That means, approximately 13% of all students currently in Year 12 will actually use an ATAR."
So, with that in mind, know that it's not the end of the world if you don't get the score you were hoping for. If plan A doesn't work, try plan B, or even C or D.
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Self-confidence is an attractive feature. This is different to arrogance or egotism - it's knowing that you are ok, just the way you are. It is also a quality that not many of us possess. Even people who seem confident are often just faking it. So how do you get it?
Valentine's Day is a bit of a bust unless you have a boyfriend, and even then, most teenage boys don't really get it anyway. Why not give yourself some self love this Valentine's Day?
I'm a big fan of author Andrew Matthews' book, Being a Happy Teen. He recently posted an article on his website about how telling yourself NOT to do something doesn't work. This is because our brain works in pictures, so when you say to yourself, "don't have an accident," your brain pictures you having an accident. Instead, we should tell ourselves what to do. For example, "drive safely." Another example of this principle is to try telling yourself "do not think about kangaroos." Of course, you are thinking about kangaroos! You can read the full article here. I certainly wasn't taught this at school but I'm going to put it into practice this week and see what happens.
From September 7-11 it's Love Your Body Week - time to embrace your shape, no matter what shape that is. To get involved you can post your positive body mantra to social media and tag #loveyourbodyweek.
You can also head to the Butterfly Foundation website and take the pledge. Sportsgirl is the major sponsor. They are also selling merchandise and the proceeds of these sales go to the Butterfly Foundation which helps those suffering from eating disorders and helps promote a healthy body image. Check out this social experiment that Dove conducted. Which door would you choose? How do you define beauty? Would you judge someone who went through the Beautiful door?
Society has such a narrow view of beauty. Very few of us match up to beauty as it is portrayed in the print and digital media. It sounds cliche but beauty comes from within. Being kind, generous, strong, compassionate, patient, happy, brave, confident and loving make you beautiful in ways that make up, expensive clothes, fake tans and boob jobs can't. Choose beautiful. Check out this great TED Talk by Maggie Dent exploring the big question - Why am I here? I want to let you in on a secret - all girls are insecure (and probably all boys too). I don't think any teenager is self-assured and confident - they're just good at acting that way. Do you want to know another secrets - most adults are insecure as well. It's no secret that the overweight, pimply girl with greasy hair and hand-me-down clothes is ensure. NEWS FLASH!!! The girl who looks like she just stepped off the cover of Teen Vogue - insecure. The girl who has all the guys drooling over her - insecure. The straight 'A' student and teacher's pet - insecure. The school bully who uses her words and her body to inflict pain on others - insecure. The rich girl who who holidays in Europe each year - insecure. We don't need to be a size 8 but we need to be healthy (body, mind and soul) and learn to be comfortable in our own skin. We need to be kind to ourselves and kind to each other. Life is difficult enough without us girls turning on each other. We're all the same on the inside. We need to stick together.
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