Welcome to nevertheless, you persisted. I'm your host Sadie, every Friday. I post interviews about mental health, dialectical behavioral therapy and Teenage life. These episodes break down my mental health Journey. Teach skills to help you cope with life and showcase, testimonials from teens, just like you, whether you've struggled yourself or just want to improve your mental Fitness, this podcast is your inspiration to live a life, you love and keep persisting.
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on their amazing products. You can go to saqqara Dot. And use codec so Saadia. Check out for 20% off, again, that's a car.com use code. XO Sadie at checkout for 20% off your first order. Hello, everyone and welcome back to another episode of she persisted, if you're new here. Hello. My name is Sadie. I'm 17. I'm a senior in high school from the Bay Area and this is my podcast. I do a lot of mental health, teenage Wellness, lifestyle
episodes. I do a mix of solo episodes just like this one where I talk from my My experience, I give advice. And my story is that I struggled really severely with depression and anxiety, and eighth grade freshman year, and of Middle School, beginning of high school and I ended up doing a year-and-a-half of intensive treatment. So I spent some time at a program in Boston, called McLean Hospital, three East and it really, really did save my life.
And then I spent a year at a therapeutic boarding school. And so, I've had the amazing opportunity to Circle back with these people, that changed my life, so much these treatment providers. These friends, these connections I made and really dive into tips and tricks and advice for parents advice for teens and also kind of dive into the social media space and talk to fellow podcasters, talk to
mental health, experts. Other people that are sharing their stories and really just get an amazing unique comprehensive. Look at what mental health is, especially in teenagers. So with that little bit of an introduction, today's episode is one that's been on my list of
podcast episode ideas. For a long time, I don't know if anyone else who does content creation has that notes list on their phone that's like 30 pages long where you come up with an idea and you're like, I want to do it at some point. Don't have time right now, but this idea was definitely one of
those. So this week's episode is my mental health tips for high school students and I thought about making it more mental health tips for teenagers, but I kind of like that's a whole other episode in itself because that encompasses a lot more Middle School. It's more kind of navigating relationships with parents friends, and I really want to To focus on navigating the academic side of things and preparing yourself for success with
college. And also really, really prioritizing your mental health and you and being okay, and making sure that you're thriving mentally. So again, going back to this backstory. When I started freshman year, I was really, really struggling. I was suicidally depressed. I could barely stay at school. The whole day because I was having such bad panic attacks. My relationship with many of my friends and my family members was honestly terrible and I was in and out of treatment.
I was Going to the hospital, every couple of months. I was doing outpatient programs after school. I was missing the end of classes because I was commuting an hour and a half to go to therapy appointments every single week. And my life was really just kind of blowing up around me at home. I was miserable at school. I was miserable. I was really just struggling and suffering and I didn't think
that would change. So I went through that period where my academics and school life was really just a mess due to my mental health. Second semester freshman year. I was completely in treatment. I In school at all. And then I did summer school, the end of freshman year and so I made up my credit. And then sophomore year, I attended a therapeutic boarding school. So I did school at that boarding school. And then junior year I did one semester of in-person school at
my local public high school. And then the last year, which was spring semester of junior year. And now, fall and spring semester of senior year has been online during the pandemic. So I would really say I have one of the most unique, craziest High School Stories. It's been quite a mod podge of different schools classes teachers friends. Friends, all of that kind of
stuff. And so, I feel like I have a pretty unique perspective and can give advice that is applicable to many different School environments, and many different academic situations. So I think I kind of got off on a tangent there, but what I was saying was that I had freshman year, where I was really struggling with my mental health, I had that time where I wasn't doing school. I had that time at boarding school and then Junior and
Senior year. I really did feel like I was thriving, I did well, academically, my mental health was doing well as well. I was able to build some great friendships and relationships despite being in a pandemic. So I have Kind of three mental perspectives. In addition to all the logistical craziness, I want to start with some academic things that you can put in place to help your mental health and then I'm going to go into more lifestyle things in relationships.
So, I want to talk about the concept of working smarter not harder. My parents hate this philosophy. They hate that I am body at. They hate that. I don't want to do 110% with every single thing that I'm doing whether that's chores or homework or whatever it is and I completely disagree. I think that if we put 110% into To every single thing that we're doing in life, whether that's cool, passion project extra curricular, activities
relationships. All of those different things, we're not going to be passionate about every single one of those things. So we're going to get burnt out if we're constantly putting so much effort into things and not everything is re-energizing us and keeping us motivated. Also, when you think about just logistically, I don't know if any of you have seen that video with all the M&M's on the ground where they kind of walk through how much free time you actually
have in your life. So if you have 24 hours in a day and you're spending seven and nine sleeping and you're spending seven hours at school and you also have three or four hours of homework and you're also bouncing a job on top of that the amount of time that you really have to do things for you that keep you, energized and happy and motivated is so
limited. So if we can minimize the things that you're doing that are causing you to get burnt out and still allow you to succeed in those areas. That's where you can really, really optimized for amazing, mental health academic success and also genuinely being happy. So, let's look at this through school lens. So, if you're working smarter not harder, that would mean that when you get your assignments list, say, you have to read three chapters of a book. You have a set of math problems.
You have a lab worksheet to prep for and you have textbook notes to take for say psych class. You're going to have to take those sites, Ike notes. Like, there's no way to get notes on a textbook. Without reading it or at least writing the notes themselves, maybe you understand the material enough to write them from memory.
But you're going to have to invest that time writing the notes unless you're going to cheat and we're not we're not advocating that here, you're going to have to spend the time doing the math problems. Even if you're really good at math and it doesn't take that long. So I'm out of time, you're going to have to invest their research
for your lab. If that's one of your strengths, maybe you don't need to do that research because you've taken a class before that covered titration or whatever it is. So you understand and can engage and participate in that class tomorrow, without spending 45 minutes, researching the lat And the reading if that's a strength of yours and you can actively participate in that discussion and you can do, okay on the quiz from skimming or reading a summary then that's where we can
save time. And work smarter not harder because if you're spending five hours a day on homework and you've spent seven hours a day at school, maybe that works for you. Maybe you're still energized, maybe you have the mental bandwidth for that, but I don't know that that like I end up getting overwhelmed and depressed the next day and anxious because I'm not getting everything done. So, if I can think about what assignments, I can Can do 100% on which ones.
I don't need to do and still do well at school. And then I can optimize for things like spending time with friends because that really energizes me and improved my mental health and my relationships and helps me feel connected. I can optimize for 20 minutes of self-care and reading before bed because I know that helps my sleep and I'll feel more motivated and happy and the
morning. The next day I can spend time with my family at dinner and truly be present and not be thinking about that assignment that I haven't finished yet. And so the point of this is not for you to slack off on inside of us. Mets and use that as an excuse, because you're prioritizing your mental health. The point is to create more balance in your life and understand that we're not super humans and we cannot put 110% into everything and that goes for school as well.
So that's my work. Smarter not harder. Figure out what your strengths are understand that there's not always time to do every single one of your assignments perfectly and that's okay, I don't know if you've had the experience where you've completely crammed for a test or you've, or you've spent so much time on notes and you get to class your teacher spends, literally, Two seconds going over it. There's no grade for it. She like doesn't even check the homework.
Like dang it. Like, you were stressed and close to tears the night before because you didn't understand that and it wasn't even worth anything. And when you think about how you could have spent that time the night before, maybe you could have spent time with your dog or you could have spent time on that passion project, that makes you so motivated and happy and energized and allows you to give more energy to school because you are energized and motivated.
So, what I'm trying to communicate is that none of us are perfect and none of us can do. Every single assignment perfectly. If you can lean into those strengths and you can put 110% into the things that you're passionate about and that you need to put in the work for to do. Well, do that? So yeah, that's my advice. So you putting 110% into things that you're passionate about.
That you need to put in the wraps for to be good at and the things you truly do need to study to do well in that class and the things where it's review or your time, could be more productive, spend elsewhere. And you can still do well in
that class optimized for that. So, So, the next thing that I want to the next piece of advice, I have for high schoolers, is to have a good relationship with your counselor if you're not aware of this, if you're a freshman or you're an eighth grader and you're just starting the whole High School process, your counselor is going to have to write you a recommendation for college has come senior year and in public school and in a lot of schools these counselors are writing
hundreds of recommendations. So at some point they're going to become generic and it's really, really difficult to build a super amazing authentic relationship with your counselor to Weeks before this recommendation is due and even that is kind of transaction on the big. I just want this relationships, that will get a good recommendation, will get into college. And there are so many ways that having a good relationship with
your counselor can benefit. You not only do you get a great recommendation because you have an authentic relationship with
this person. You've shown your strengths to them, but when you're struggling with your mental health or you're struggling with stress from school, you have that person to lean on even things, like, when your schedule is messed up, and there's a class in your thing that you'd not supposed to be taking your counselors, the person who fixes that And so if you can have a good relationship with them, but are so many things logistically that are easier to approach and
one of these things is a 504. So if you have any kind of diagnosis, whether that's generalized, anxiety, disorder, depression. Bulimia anorexia literally any diagnosis from a therapist. It can be from a psychiatrist psychologist. Has to be from a doctor. You can get something called a 504 in the state of California and what a 504 is is a set of accommodations and help you
succeed in school. So some pretty common Ones are being able to take bathroom breaks during class, being able to drink water, or eat snacks and class being able to have extra time on tests and homework getting extensions. And these are kind of really common things at certain schools but Public School, lot of the time, it's not as common and these aren't just given away like free candy. You can't just get up and go to the bathroom.
And so if you're struggling with something like anxiety, we're being in the classroom. When you panic attack is coming on, really, just isn't working for you. If you have a five before you can get up and go to the
Bathroom no questions asked. So once you have these accommodations, your teacher can be like, no, sorry, you can't eat a snack in this class even if you're struggling with eating throughout the day and not binging at night, so these 504 accommodations are set up to keep you successful with no questions asked by teachers because you have the signed note from your doctor and so what happens is you ask for the form from your counselor, you get it signed by your doctor, they
write down your diagnosis and your teacher gets a list of the accommodations that you get in their class and So for me, the accommodations that I have, I have extra time on tests and I have extensions. I have I think snacks and water in class. Even for Zoom school right now, you can get accommodations like having your camera off or not having to be called on in class if that causes immense anxiety. And so 504's are also really thin line to walk because you
want to have accommodations. It helps support you but it's also not great because these are an existing College 504 accommodations don't always exist in the real world, especially without you having to continuously at Vacate for them. So if you're 504 is that you can go to the bathroom and do you find that you're just getting anxious in class and you're born? You're going seven times a day, it really does become a crutch as far as coping.
So that is one thing that I kind of want to throw out there that it's very important to make sure that these accommodations are helping you thrive and not hindering your ability to cope effectively independently. So relating to the five of for my piece of advice is to get one. If you have a diagnosis get a 504, you might not feel like you need the accommodations now and that's totally fine.
Ever have to use them. But having that option, if you're really, really struggling and you have 17 assignments, due the next day, and you just really need an extension. That's one of those five before comes in handy, or if you're really, really struggling with a concept, all the tests and maybe it's anxiety. Maybe you just don't get it that extra time. Really is a helpful resource. So if you have any kind of diagnosis, my advice is get a 504 even if you don't intend to use it.
It's a nice thing to have. So kind of going back to the work. Smarter not harder thing, but from a different angle, I feel like when I was started High School, this idea of cramming and studying all night and always working was really romanticize the idea of having so much homework and being stressed out. Like that was just part of the high school experience.
And it's not does not have to be, yes, you'll probably have a couple of tasks or assignments that you've procrastinated and you're working on lately and you are overwhelmed and busy and that's totally okay. And I promise your mental health will thank you. If you have a shutoff time every night and that's different for every person, I'm not trying to be a bear near really Bedtimes at 7:00 p.m. no, no, no, maybe it's 11:30. You're like, okay, I'm done with
homework. I know that I'm not going to do great work. After 11:30, that assignment will still be there the next day. And I'm not saying that every single night you have to have a strict cut off and that this is something you have to do every
point. But balance, if you're consistently getting enough, sleep in your consistently shutting off by, like 10:30 11:00, whatever time it is, when you do have that test that you have to cram and study for for a few extra hours, your sleep won't be as dramatically. Impacted. And we also know that your performance in school is so closely linked to how much sleep you're getting and how rested you are.
If you're constantly pulling all-nighters and costly studying and not sleeping enough, you're going to do worse in school. You're not just going to feel worth but your performance will suffer as well. And I more really wanted to approach this from the lens of that what it feels like when you have an assignment, that's not done. You're going to miss the deadline and there's that stress, there's anxiety. There's that fear, you're gonna
have to tell your teacher. You didn't do it, and I know, it doesn't feel that way in the moment, but the assignment will still be there. Tomorrow you can go to sleep, you can wake up in the assignment will still be there. Maybe you can get it done before school, maybe you can really be honest, your teacher and be like, hey I was really stressed out last night, I'm really struggling with my relationship
with my mom right now. I have a bunch of other stuff from other classes and I know I should have advocated for an extension before and I really didn't and that's totally on me and I didn't get this assignment in time.
And I was wondering if it's possible to do it for partial credit or if I could Make it up and in my experience, when you're open in your authentic with teachers and you're honest about the fact that you should have done this differently and you didn't and you're asking for support, they're willing to give that to you. So in that regard, if you go to sleep that night, the assignment will be the next day. If you spend all night cramming, that time to sleep and to
improve your performance. The next day, that's not going to be there. So I want to Circle back to the idea where I was talking about passion projects that really motivate you and energize you and that you want to put 110% into. I am such a big proponent of this freshman sophomore year, when you would have asked me what I'm going to write about on my college application. I don't know. I think I like ran cross-country the time. I wanted to be a pediatric
surgeon. Like guys my vision of what I wanted to do was completely different and that's totally fine. If you don't know what you want to do, so many high school, students don't know, and that's the point of college and careers and life is figuring out what you're passionate about and what you love. So you can thrive in those areas and from a very basic standpoint, my reason to advocate for a passion project.
Is for your college application. Being able to show that you have grit and motivation and an amazing work ethic. Like that's exactly what colleges are working for. They're not looking for someone who can check all the boxes and be like, I got all these Straight A's and I didn't do
anything else except for this. And from the conversations that I've had about the college admissions process, with my parents, with other adults, when we think about tat standardized test scores, we think about recommendations, we think about
grades. The goal of that is for colleges to find a Student, that is academically talented, they show grit and they show potential and it doesn't really matter what that area of potential it is in. Maybe it's your extremely committed to your sport and every single day you're showing up at 5 a.m. and you working out in your building relationships with your teammates and your thriving in that area.
Maybe you're really good at debate team, you're always showing up for practices, you go above and beyond you. Again, have these amazing relationships in this passion, those skills that you've learned with that activity can be used in any Area of life and eventually can lead you to be really successful in college and in your career, it's that's what colleges are looking for, is those that passion, that grit
and that potential. And you can just as easily show that through passion project for me, the podcast showed my ability to Advocate and work with other people within the podcasting Community. It showcased my passion for mental health, and my commitment to working on the problem.
That is mental health stigma in our society, even from an early point, I was able to show them that I want to be a clinical psychologist and these are the steps that I've taken Insofar to start these conversations and show this passion. So from a very basic standpoint and Logistics wise that is one reason I have a passion project. Additionally the other reason for having a Passion project, I'm gonna explain this kind of through like, introvert and extrovert personalities.
If you're introverted, you get recharged by spending time by yourself. If your extroverted you feel recharged from spending time with other people. So whichever one of those. You are totally great. Imagine that feeling of being recharged, passion projects can do that to you get more energy. You get more motivation more. Mint and you're able to put that energy into other things.
So, for me, what I spend an hour podcasting on Fridays, I wake up the next day, more energized and more motivated and happy, and I have more to put into the other things in my life. And that's another reason why I think having a Passion product is so important because it's another area of your life to recharge and refuel and become re motivated. And again, support your mental health, and it's also a great
distraction. If you're really stressed out, if you're struggling with panic attacks, if you're having a tough relationship with your parents leaning. Into this passion project, doing this thing, that makes you really happy and it's a great distraction. That's another reason why I think having a Passion project is so important. This week's episode is sponsored by teen counseling. I cannot tell you guys.
How many DM's texts emails? I get from teens parents, even friends asking, how can I find a therapist? How can I enroll in therapy? How can I find a therapist for my teen? How do I tell my parents? I want to go to therapy. That's why I'm partnering with teen counseling. Teen counseling is an online Therapy Program with over 14,000, licensed therapist in there. Work. They offer support on things like depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, and more, and it's all targeted at teens.
They offer, text talk and video counseling. So no matter what level of support you're looking for, they got you, you're going to go to teen counseling.com, she persisted, you'll fill out a quick survey about what your goals are for therapy. Whether that's improving your mental health, during the pandemic, working on your relationship, with your parents, improving, self-esteem, whatever it is, they'll match you with therapist that fits your needs.
You'll enter your information and your parents information. And your parents will get a super discreet email saying your child's interested in working with a licensed therapist at teen counseling.com. They had to the website learn a little bit more about the program and a preview to work with the therapist. And from there you can meet that therapist on a frequency that works for you.
This is a great way to dip your toe, into therapy world and get support when you need it without having to go into an office, meet with a therapist meet with a stranger and go through all of that for the first time. So you can go to teen counseling.com she Stood again, that's teen counseling.com says she persisted to get started today.
The next piece of advice that I have kind of goes back to the idea of a counselor, but it's having the adult you trust that you can lean on and talk to and feel supported by and it doesn't matter. Whether this is a parent, that's great. If you don't have a great relationship of your parent, that's totally fine. Maybe it's a family friend teacher at school, a counselor, when you're struggling, especially with mental health. It's not something that you want to put on your friends.
And I've talked about this so many times on the podcast, but I went down that rabbit hole so far. So deep. I thought I was everyone's treatment coordinator. ER, and I took on all of their emotional burdens as my own, and when you're a teenager, your brain is not fully developed. You're not able to handle these crises situations. You don't equipped to handle someone else's mental health as a whole.
That's why people get training for years to become psychologists, and psychiatrists, and that's why there's a whole team of clinicians that work with you in the hospital and in treatment, and an outpatient therapy because it's not meant to be a burden, put on one person, whether that's the person struggling, or their best friend, and it also puts a lot of Stress on the relationship,
whether you realize it or not. When there's an imbalance in the relationship and one person is constantly struggling. The other person starts to few used and resentful because they're not getting as much out of the relationship. And if you're both equally, putting your burdens in this relationship, you become really codependent because your ability to cope and distress and vent about what's going on is completely tied to that other person.
So, going to friends for support, can be great for smaller things, but when it's your whole mental health, and whatever crisis, You're having at the moment, it can be really detrimental to both parties. So this is where an adult comes in. Being able to have someone that can be that stepping stone to getting you professional support. Whether that's a therapist or counselor, maybe it's a doctor who ever it is having an adult, you can trust. They're the ones that are
equipped to pick. Okay? This is what we do next. And of course, there's a chance that you go to someone and like, I don't know what to do or you get bad advice your led the wrong way. But if it's someone that you do look up to and you trust in you, you agree with their values and their morals, often times, they'll lead you in the right direction. Action and they're there to offer that support. So going back to this idea of your relationship with your
parents. If that your parents are your person in your relationship with them is phenomenal, you can give and receive love and support. That's perfect. That's not my case for a lot of us. And that was my next piece of advice, which is to remember that your parents are never going to be the parents that you need and want and wish you had. Because they don't, they don't know what they're doing as much as we don't. They're doing the best they can. They're doing what they learn
from their parents. And they're trying their damned bass to be the best parent for you. And we're not perfect and advocating for our needs. We don't always recognize our needs, so they're not going to be the perfect parent. They're not going to always meet your needs and that's okay. And it's really hard to accept.
Because when we're young, we go from this headspace of mom and dad are Superman and Superwoman, and they can solve all of our problems to when we grow up. And we see these flaws, and we realize that not only your parents, maybe they can't solve every problem. But a lot of parents Do that for you because you grow up, you move out of the house and you have to do things independently so they can't solve all your problems but even if they could at some point they stop doing
that. So you go from this idolizing headspace believing that your parents are the most amazing people on the planet to kind of seeing them as human because they are human. And that's when you kind of come to that crazy realization that your parents aren't perfect and that they're not the parents that you wish you had and that doesn't mean that. There's another Pantry. Like I wish I had that person as a parent because I don't know
that, I don't find that exist. But when your needs are unmet, or when you don't feel validated or you don't feel supported that sucks and you wish it was different and I personally have found that really practicing that radical acceptance. My parents, aren't the parents. I wish I had and we can have a good relationship. We can build our relationship, you can improve this relationship. We can work on our communication. I can advocate for my needs more effectively.
Those are all measurable steps. You can take to improve that relationship and make it work for you and being in the head space of, I wish this was different. I wish this would change, maybe it'll be completely different tomorrow. It really is painful to sit through and it's really hard and we all know that that definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results. And I found that I've gotten into that headspace a lot where I'm going back to the same relationship and I'm expecting something to be dramatic. Be different. And that's crazy to expect that something will magically change overnight.
So again, you go back to those measurable steps that you can take to improve that relationship and you deeply practice that radical acceptance that your parents are never going to be the parents that you feel like you need or that you wish you had. And so that's where you come in, how can you get your own needs met? How can you practice that self-validation? How can you build a family around? You have friends in other adults and whoever it is that can get
those needs met for you. So Kind of where that idea of that another adult comes in if you don't feel like your needs are being met, if you don't feel like you're getting that role model or that validation, whatever it is at home, you can build that elsewhere, even when you're still young and a teenager, okay, I have three more tips, which I'm going to try and get through as quickly as possible.
One of them is to get a job and I know that not everyone can get a job, some people's parents, don't let them work, maybe there's not jobs in your area for covid. Reasons, right. Now, when I'm recording this episode, there's maybe not a lot of things that are open right
now. Ali. Okay, the reason why I put this on your radar is because being able to have Financial freedom and being able to go hang out with friends and get a burger when you want to or being able to get that sweater that you've been admiring for a while, gives you a great sense of sense of Independence. I found that my relationship. My parents can feel a lot more transactional and a lot more unhealthy on both parts when it's really based around. Can I have this thing?
I really need this. I need new shoes, whatever it is. It gets a lot more strained and it's a lot more difficult, the amount of Freedom that you feel when you can go and buy that coffee for yourself, or you can buy those shoes that you've been looking out for the past three months, it's amazing. And you haven't always experienced that when you're a kid. And so for the purpose of your relationship with your parents and being able to just have more Independence and freedom on your
own. That is one thing that I highly suggest and recommend is being able to get a job and work to again decrease those things that are keeping you from the things you want to do whether it's spending time with friends. Friends, switching up your style. I don't know what it is, but that is something that I found. That makes me feel a lot more independent and makes me feel a lot more motivated. And it really has been a
game-changer in high school. And my sister right now is looking for a job and she's constantly complaining of, she doesn't have money for things and she can't buy this new thing. I'm like you have to get a job. I don't want to and it can be scary, it can be overwhelming and I totally get that. I totally understand. I remember when my parents told me to get a job, I think I was in eighth grade at the time that you need to go ask for an application of Now I'm not doing it.
I was so embarrassed that I was working. I don't know why but it was just a really overwhelming scary experience and I want to recognize that I want to let you know that I totally understand that because I've been there and I promise you Financial Freedom and Independence starting when you're in high school is amazing.
My next piece of advice is using vacation as vacation and in my personal experience has been a lot of times where it's like spring break or it's winter break and you're still working on things, you're still in your same routine. It feels like just less classes. But you're basically still in school and I totally get that because it's like School pointed vacation. It's like School Board, two days
off. There's the world keeps moving, there's still things to do and you feel so much more refreshed, you feel more motivated, you feel more energized, you feel more happy. These are really the buzzwords of this episode because all of these things, we're trying to increase those feelings. So, unplugging from email homework, whatever it is, that's causing that normal stress in your day to day life. Switching up your routine.
Maybe it's sleeping in. Maybe the getting up earlier whatever Is that you like switching up your meals switching up the way you're spending your date if you can really just lean into that vacation time and make it feel different from your day-to-day redundant lifestyle that we all get into. I promise, you will feel so much better and rejuvenated and energized. When you get back into that school head, space and lifestyle, and that's something really hard to do.
I feel like it'll do much better on it and I'm only starting to kind of understand because I, whenever I'm on vacation time, I'm just want to like, scroll on Tick-Tock, which is terrible,
but yeah. Yeah, I have felt the difference of being on quote-unquote vacation and still working on essays or college applications or being in the same redundant routine and then going back to school and you feel like the grind is never ended versus really taking that time to unplug and step back and focus on your own mental health that you can put even more into, all your activities when you get back to them, when school starts again.
So my last piece of advice is more of a social thing which is surround yourself with who you want to be. And this was something that I had heard for years. And I never truly understood until I got a fresh start, my junior year and I had had a hell of a high school experience already. I had been in one School freshman year completely mentally struggling. I went to intensive treatment and pretty much dropped out of
high school for that semester. I did summer school, I did a boarding school and then I went back and when I looked at the relationships, I had my freshman year which was a lot of like-minded individuals and that we were all mentally struggling, we were all truly suffering. And our relationships and connections were based off of those shared emotions. And then I looked at my relationships junior year where for those first six months, no one even knew. I had a podcast about mental health.
No one knew. I went to treatment, no one knew that I'd struggled with depression that was something that was part of my identity, but it didn't need to be the most Forefront thing that I was advertising.
And so I was able to build these relationships based on these parts of my life, that fueled that energy and motivation and happiness, which was authentic connections over things in our classes and spending whatever you're doing outside of school and Club. And extracurriculars and whatever was going crazy and like my social life outside of school. And so, I built these relationships with these individuals that weren't
mentally struggling. And I connected over things that I wanted to see more of in my life, which was lots of being in this treatment world at being overwhelmed by constant crises, and struggling and chaos. And having this more simplistic typical high school lifestyle, which was having great relationships with friends, And authentic connections that weren't based on my mental health going up in flames.
And so you can surround yourself by people that are in the head space, that you want to be you, you become who you surround yourself with and that applies to your mental health as well. I think, and I think that everyone has moments of struggles, and I think it sounded so cheesy.
I think that everyone has bits of darkness and struggle in their life, and so, if you're bringing attention to that, you come into this friend group, and you're talking about how you're struggling with x, y and z, Things are going crazy at home, people will reciprocate that energy and they will have a conversation with you go and bring up their experiences. So I want to kind of shed light on the fact that it's not just who you surround yourself with but the energy you bring to
those interactions. So even if you surround yourself with people that are mentally, healthy and well and thriving, there's the potential for you or someone else to bring that negative energy, and turn that into unhealthy relationships, and you can also, Bring that healthy energy and you can bring those authentic healthy connections to relationships that were formerly based on - connections and negative behaviors. So that's my last piece of advice. Let me see if I can turn a
little wrap-up of everything. I talked about first was work, smarter not harder, get a 504 sleep because the assignment will always be there. Tomorrow, have a good relationship with your counselor have a passion project. I have an adult that you can talk to that. You admire look up to and your values.
In line with understand that your parents are going to be the parents that you wish you had use vacation as truly vacation time, get a job, have that Financial Independence even when you're a teenager and surround yourself with who you want to be. So I hope that was helpful. I'm going to have to edit this episode so much because I repeated everything I said like four times because I just got off on random tangents, but I hope you enjoyed.
I hope you loved this episode as much as I loved recording it. Be sure to subscribe and apple podcasts. Leave a review. Please I've been asking ever to leave reviews, but it really does. Help share this episode with a friend that, you think would enjoy it. Tag me. If you're listening to it on social media, I would love to see it. I'll repost it. I'll give you a shout out. Yeah. What else is there to say? I hope you're having a wonderful
week. Be sure to follow as she persisted podcast on Instagram. I'm really popping off there with the Instagram, reels, and the tick-tocks, and the posts. So yeah, thanks for listening and I'll see you next Friday.