Self Worth

When someone ask you do you know your worth? How do you answer? Many of us have never asked ourselves the question, we just hesitate and don't give it a thought. Self worth is effected as we grow older, people's opinions and attitudes toward us start determining how we see ourselves. We start to measure what we can do and who we will be by the measuring stick of society, that is not the way we should see ourselves.
I know for me I felt like the odds were always against me, being the oldest and experiencing new things first there was no one in front for me to measure by. All my life, I could remember the negative audience always cutting it short, telling me it can't happen, its impossible, etc. For me that was like putting gasoline to the fire, I would attempt and go hard at it because I was determined that I could achieve the impossible or improve at it in some sort of way. I had developed self love(when no one can love you like you) I wasn't arrogant but I wasn't the type to just accept other people's outcome for me. You have to trust your feelings about yourself so I quickly learned I had to make choices for me. I learned how to self analyze, which wasn't hard because I am a analytical person anyways, but learning how to constantly self analyze was hard and I didn't always do it. Building your self worth, you have to become your own cheering squad, remind yourself you matter, your number one. Prove to yourself by taking responsibility, owning up to the fact that you are in control of your attitude, your reactions, and your worth. You have to forgive yourself, responsibility also requires that you relinquish the need to use criticizing as a source of coping, criticizing alleviates the need to look at yourself and to change your own behavior. Put your energy into what you need to do to change your situation, one main suggestion is STOP TRYING TO PLEASE PEOPLE. I changed my thought process and started to take difficult scenarios and change them into opportunities, learning to value myself a lot more. Reaching that level wasn't easy, for some time I always put myself last, after awhile though you start to realize your self worth.

What happens now?

Well the world keeps going and our issues still exist some get resolved, some create new issues, and others get knocked to the bottom of the list. So what happens now? We exist in a survival mode only era, it almost seem like mankind has lost it love towards the human race. As the clock ticks creating life and sustaining it is no longer at the top of the list, death seems to be on the menu at all times, you yearn for some positive views. Although very few exist and then by the end of the message or article the person has expressed so many views you don't know what to choose from the negative seed has been planted. So what happens now? Joy, was one moment people yearned for and sharing it with others now you have to evaluate ones motive before getting on board. The times of people working together are few and usually a catastrophe brings people closer, there are others that were raised to help or think of others they just operate in the background. I try whenever possible to have a positive outlook, hope is still the source to many, take for instance racial incidents, senseless killings, political corruption, illegal activities that cost lots for many. When answering the question so what happens now? I try to think about what I could do to make a difference in a positive light and help change the way I do things. Happiness comes when I see the results have an outcome that helped or resolved whatever the situation was, not needing the recognition but enjoying the idea of doing something resulting as productive. No, life is not always a happy, kick your heels up journey, but you have to keep things in a positive prospective to have a healthy mindset. So I say to all those that like to complain and debate certain issues after all that energy you used ask yourself so what happens now? Especially, things concerning you directly, and even issues that are not directed towards you, changes would happen if we put time and effort into issues taking steps.We recognize the problem, so lets take the steps to approach and process solutions. I said solutions because some issues have branches that need to be solved to get to the source, because our world is not perfect it takes many positive mindsets to take things head on. My personal wish is for many to develop that mindset hoping the youth and those it will affect will follow suit, these are my personal thoughts when it comes to the demand for addressing and resolving issues we are presented with daily.

Education of our black youth......

I was reading articles forwarded to me about the black youth and education, and it saddened my heart. I didn't quite understand why we have so many issues with this problem when we were the leaders at the helm. I know some will get upset after they read this and some will feel like myself, and then there are those that will shrug and say nothing we can do. I don't understand why we have given up on educating our youth, why do we accept that label society has placed on them? Furthermore, why do we attack one another? As an educator myself , I see roadblocks for different cultures when it comes to learning, there is nothing that can't be overcome. I also have recognize that educators have become the sole source of educating our youth, that is very scary, growing up in a home with two parents. My mother was always encouraging the importance of education, and my father made sure it was done, neither of them wanted us to go the way they did, my mother finished high school, my father didn't he had to quit to help with his parent's farm. He felt it the most, a young black male trying to survive with limited education, and worked two jobs at once to establish himself. My mother although she had an education, learned that work wasn't that easy to find as a black woman other than the basic jobs that were already set aside for them to work.
She would say you have so much more opportunity than we did, use it don't lose it, and it wasn't easy because we faced adversity as well with educators constantly trying to encourage us to take what was given don't strive for more. I know the breakdown starts in the home first, people have to work a lot nowadays, children barely see their parents, children raising children, and society shows our youth what they should be based on their standards. Our race has become diluted and delusional, its as if we didn't grasp the basics to get off the ground and the more fight and conflict the more distraction, I'm not saying some issues are better to deal with than others. I am saying each of us holds a responsibility, to ourselves and each other, we no longer care and the youth believe they have found a quicker and easier way to be somebody.
Guess what? Well that way is where it stops, nothing produce, nothing stabilizes, nothing excels, the cycle repeats and eventually will terminate because nothing feeds it. I didn't want to end up like my parents I work very hard to achieve goals I set for myself, I'm not rich but I learned it can't be done just looking at it and you have to apply yourself to complete or excel beyond it. I tutor middle school age kids to high school and there is a remarkable difference in who really wants the education reward or who wants to accept their circumstances and not excel past their current state of mind.  I would hope we open our eyes and address the lack of education before now, but other distractions have become our focus.

To be continued.........