Why I Want to Help Teen Girls

I’m so excited about this new book I’m writing called, Secrets Girls Keep . People often ask why I wrote The Powder Box Secrets or how I started Girls With Dreams. To put it simply, I know all of us have secrets, especially teenagers. So here’s a little bit more about why I want to help teen girls.

Our secrets help us, hurt us, and seem to be a rite of passage into our teen years and beyond. I think most teenage girls have secrets. Some cement friendships, others help us hide our true feelings or problems.

I don’t want to have to fake it anymore. I don’t want girls to hide their fears, pain or despair. I want us to be able to tell our truths, share our secrets, and give each other the strength and courage we need to be ourselves and follow our dreams. We take steps to reach our best life by opening up and sharing. Don’t we all want to put our best foot forward and embrace all the possibilities in a world that is creating more opportunities for girls and women?

After all, each of you are amazing, courageous, intelligent, unique, and beautiful! Can you accept that? Don’t let society brand you with one of its labels. We are all so much more than the popular girl, pretty girl, goth girl, religious girl, prep, jock, or nerd.

Everything we do at Girls With Dreams is about dropping the labels we’ve accepted for ourselves and given to others. It’s about celebrating being girls and sharing ideas and secrets that connect us all. I’m tired of accepting what our society tell us we need to do in order to be successful or liked. Those expectations are based on the premise that we’re never good enough and, even worse, that we must knock each other down to get to the top. It doesn’t need to be that way. I want to start a movement where girls push back the stereotypes, false labels, unrealistic expectations, and airbrushed images that surround us and shape us. I wanted to create a safe place where girls create and own their biggest dreams, a place where we can support each other, and a place where we take action in our own life and in the world around us.

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Live life with a purpose.

Life can throw anything at you that might make life easier or more difficult than it already is. Being prepared emotionally and physically can make a big differnce in how you handle these types of obstacles. Prepare yourself by bringing more purpose into your life.

I like to complete an everyday “To Do List”. The list could be for a week’s worth of projects or enough simply for a day. At the end of each day, whether you had a horrible day or a good day, you’ll be able to reflect upon how productive you were that day. You may not get everything done, but there’s always tomorrow and the rest of your life to keep working at it.

Do not let any day pass you by. There is always a way to make life easier on yourself, improving your time management for example. You always want to have more free time with your friends, right? Well create your own list and start living life to the fullest and with a purpose. Every day should be an adventure met with a smile. Never regret anything you do, and make tomorrow a better day by being productive.

Back to School Tip 4

Tip 4:  Find Your Courage and Confidence

How would you rate your courage quotient at school? Take a look at all areas of your school life: friends, teachers, grades, extracurricular activties, etc. Give yourself a score in each of these areas on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being totally confident.

How did you do? Put a star next to any area where you score an 8 or greater. These are your most confident areas. Ask yourself, what makes you confident in these areas? Next, pick an area where you scored less than 8. Use your skills and talents from your strong areas to help you increase your score here. If you scored below an 8 in all areas, that’s okay too!

Through our surveys, we’ve found that having confidence and courage are some of the main stumbling blocks for girls.

To build your confidence and courage, start small. Ask a friend, teacher, or mentor for support and ideas. You might find a friend you can helpjust  as much as she can help you. Maybe it’s easy for her to raise her hand in class and it’s not a big deal for you to introduce yourself to people you’ve never met. Help each other boost confidence!

Do you have more ideas? Email us at info@girlswithdreams and tell us what confidence builders you’ve used.

School Stress: Don’t Get Caught Up

School has started for most people, and I know how overwhelming school can be. I’m an editor for Student Life and yearbook, I participate on Student Council, Knights of Excellence, and I’m also a class delegate and a mentor. Believe it or not, I still want to take on more activities!

I wanted to share the importance of taking time out for your family, friends and most importantly, yourself. People always stress the importance of getting involved in school because it will help you in college. Don’t get me wrong, I think obviously think being involved is good. I’m just saying that you can succeed in high school and get into an awesome college without taking on a million of activities.

Your family and friends are the ones that help you take a break when you need one, and remember that it’s okay to ask for help or support when you need it. So just take time each week to be with your family and friends. Also, don’t forget to treat yourself for the hard work you do.

Back-to-School Series Tip 3

Tip 3: Friends Are Key.

Who have you been spending time with this summer? Did your friends change? Who do you think you’ll spend time with this school year? Do your friends lift you up or pull you down? When you do well in school, are your friends happy for you or do they get jealous?

Take a moment and think about what the perfect friend means to you. Are those kinds of friends in your life now? If yes, great! If not, that’s okay, too. Middle school and high school can be a time in which your group of friends changes. Just recognize what qualities are important to you and you’ll find the right friends.

Pay attention to how you are being as a friend as well. As long as you’re being a good friend, you’ll naturally attract the right type of friends and develop healthy and supportive friendships.

Back-to-School Series Tip 2

Tip 2: Learn from last year.

In order to have your best year yet, take a peek at last year. What habits worked really well? Where did you achieve the biggest success? How did you do it? In what areas did you fail, and what did you learn from those experiences?

Based on your answers, examine the goals you set for yourself in Tip 1. Take what you learned here and apply it to your goals for this year. Make sure you don’t get hung up on past mistakes. The most successful people make lots of mistakes. It’s important to see them as opportunities for growth rather than failures. Just learn from them and move on!

Back-to-School Series Tip 1

I’ll be writing a back-to-school series over the next few weeks. I just heard a few of the schools in St. Louis started going back today! I thought most schools had at least a week or two left. Whether you’ve already gone back or are getting ready to, you won’t want to miss these tips  They will help you have the best year ever.

Tip 1: Set goals for what you want to accomplish this year.

Stop and close your eyes for minute. What does the perfect year look like to you? Would it be singing in the school musical? Making the dance team? Earning a high GPA? Although your list might be long, pick three or four goals to focus on. Then, make sure you record them in a place you won’t overlooked. Write them on your school calendar, phone, or Post-It note.

Be sure to check back for Tip 2 later this week! If you have other tips for getting ready for school, we’d love to hear them!

Back to School!

School starts in two weeks for me! CRAZY! I know it’s earlier than some people, but I am actually kind of excited about it. I just became the Editor and Chief of our yearbook, and have been participating in a mentor program a lot lately.

So what was the most embarassing or craziest thing that you did over the summer?  I think my most embarrasing moment was on the Fourth of July. I was wearing a cute little dress (DON’T EVER WEAR DRESSES OUTDOORS) and I stepped in a mud puddle. When I tried to get my flip flop out of the mud, it flung all over my best friend and my back. I just laughed and said, “This is exactly why I don’t wear dresses!”

What are some of your embarassing moments from this summer?

Summer is Near!

I know that everyone is probably stressing out right now about the academic crunch that is fast approaching. I know that I am trying to cram everything in before finals get here. Most of us still have a little more than a month before school lets out for the summer, and the teachers are piling the work on. Even though the workload is getting insane, just keep your head on straight. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Make sure that you get enough sleep! Napping is a great way to recharge on a long or stressful day.
• I like to make sure I take breaks after I have spent about an hour studying. Even just going for a quick walk around your house or neighborhood can work.
• Remember to keep up with organization as well. Keep all of your notes in one place, per subject. Plan ahead to study at a certain time and follow through. Make sure you have a quiet place to study as well. If you need soft music, then have it ready; but I know I get very distracted by the TV.

And remember, summer is almost here… We can make it!