What would you do to be popular? Mat and Summer discuss a few answers to this question on today’s podcast. Some other questions that are discussed are:

Why is popularity so important?

How can you become more likeable?

What are some people willing to do to find popularity?

Mat gives his update on his work regarding ‘the movement’. We are still looking for a name for ‘the movement’. We have some suggestions, but we are keeping the contest open until Feb. 5th. We will make our decision then. Remember that there is a $25 gift certificate for the winning suggestion.

Disappointment is going to come to all of us in our lives. Who hasn’t gotten their hopes up for something, and then been let down? It is part of life. What are some ways to deal with it?                 

1. Acknowledge that you are feeling disappointed:
It doesn’t help to try and fight the feelings. Allow yourself to feel disappointed. Tell yourself, “right now I feel disappointed,
but it won’t last forever.” Feelings are very transitory. Soon, something in your life will come up that will bring different
feelings into your life.

2. Look at the positives in the situation:
The disappointment that my friend was feeling began to fade as she focused on the fact that the certification was still
going to happen, it was just delayed a little bit. In the big picture she was still going to be able to reach her goal.
There is also a positive lesson that she can learn from this experience if she chooses to. She could learn a valuable
lesson in time management. (i.e. lack of procrastination)

3. Find someone to help:
Sometimes the best remedy for feeling disappointment in our lives is serving someone else. There is much satisfaction
and joy that can be found in helping someone who needs it. Getting our thoughts away from our own pitty party and
giving service can be a powerful catalyst in changing our emotions.

So if your are feeling disappointed about something in your life remember:
It is not going to last forever
There is something good that will come from what is happening
Find someone that you can help

Teen Girls compare their ‘lack of talent’ to others ‘best’ talents
I have always wanted to be a singer. I would love to be on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans. I would love to be on stage in front of 15 people who just came to see me play my guitar and sing. However, a great singing voice is not something that I was blessed with. In fact, back in the day when I played in a band, i was pretty much not allowed to go near a microphone.

I have a good friend who is a very good singer. He plays gigs. He records his own music. He gets invited to sing a lot because he is very talented.

If I chose to define my self worth by comparing my singing talent to his, I would be in the dumps all the time. I would be basing my self worth and value on someone Else’s talents and unique ability. How crazy is that? It’s insane, but a lot of people, including teenage girls, do it.

Rather than compare myself to my singing friend, I should take a look at my own unique skills and abilities. i should make a list of things that I love to do, things that I know I do well, or things that other people have complimented me about. Then focus on those things. You should do the same. Find out what it is that you love and are good at, then to develop your skills in those areas.

Teen Girls compare themselves with media perfection
Walk into any grocery store or gas station and you will see loads of magazines with bikini clad women gracing the covers. Watch MTV or VH-1 and you see scantily clad women with great bodies either singing as the lead artist, or taking a back up role as a dancer. The media has flooded our society with images that are designed to attract attention and lead a person to buy merchandise.

As teen girls see the magazine covers and watch T.V. they are bombarded with images of ‘the perfect body’. Girls compare their imperfect bodies with the ones they are seeing on the magazine covers and it is damaging to their self esteem.

The Teen Esteem Council conducted a series of interviews to find out what the major problems that teenage girls face today. Body image was one of the main issues that continually came up. They often see boys looking at magazine covers or hearing boys talk about how ‘hot’ this model or that model is. The girls feel that they have to compete with that in order to get attention from boys.

Realize that your body is your body. Most parts of how you look are not going to change drastically. Also realize that your body is not you. There is so much more to you than just the package of skin and bones that the real you uses to get around.

What is most important is that you keep your body healthy. Make healthy choices in your eating habits. Exercise regularly. The formula is simple, but there is discipline required to carrying it out. You probably don’t have the time and money to hire a nutritionist and a personal trainer like the celebrities do. You also probably don’t have the access to the computer software that can take away many of the blemishes that those celebrities still have. So keep your body healthy and in shape and the comfort level of your appearance will increase.

Everyone compares. It is part of our human nature. Teenage girls compare themselves in a myriad of ways. This article has discussed only two of them. Hopefully the suggestions given can benefit you if this is something that you are struggling with.

We also wanted to thank everyone for listening. The support has been Great!