( #.) = Q #: = A )
1.) My friend keeps pressuring me to try things with her, but I don't know...
1: If you don't want to do something, don't do it. Don't let anyone pressure you into anything, and don't associate with people who pressure you after you've said no. If you give in to pressure and do it, you'll feel bad later. It's not satisfying, trust me.
2.) I'm scared to write my own story, what if people hate it!
2: Write it! If people hate it, write another one! Remember: You can't please everyone all the time. Just pick out a target audience and write what they like to read, OR write whatever you want without paying attention to who will read it! Sometimes being liked by others is satisfying, and sometimes proving your talent to yourself is more satisfying. Plus, you can always work with another writer or an editor for ideas :D
3.) I can never fall asleep at night and I really need help. What should I do?
3: If you toss and turn and can't sleep, there might be a number of things going on. First of all, sleeplessness is VERY common, especially in teenagers, so don't go and think you have a disease. Odds are, you don't need medication.
When it comes to sleeping, we have to go back and look at cavemen in the stone ages, the people who didn't have what we have. They ran around and hunted all day, they went to sleep right when the sun went down, and then they got up when the sun came up again and ran around all during the next day. This is the way that the human brain was built to function. When all of the sudden we have technology, function gets thrown out the window. All of the sudden you're sitting in one place, staring at a computer screen, and staying up late into the night. All of these things are hurting your sleeping pattern.
What you can do to fall asleep more quickly and sleep more deeply is:
A) Stay hydrated, and eat well. The brain has a hard time without enough water.
B) Exercise. Not only does aerobic exercise burn fat, it tires your brain out in a good way AND releases serotonin, a feel-good chemical. It doesn't have to be strenuous - take your dog for a walk!
C) Get away from that screen, especially at night! Try to make it a habit to quit all screened electronics (computer, television, phone) at least one hour before you go to bed each night. Screens put a lot of strain on your eyes and brain processing, and ultimately wire your brain to think it has to be working all the time.
When your brain is running at full speed on little to no fuel late into the night and your body has gotten no work at all, there's no way you're going to sleep well!
Trust me, try these out and you'll feel much better (If you still have a problem after a month of sticking to this plan, see a doctor).
4.) I'm really nervous about our state tests that are coming up, what are some things I could do to relax at school?
4: Do you practice meditation? I highly recommend meditation and some sort of exercise, even if it's martial arts or dance. Do anything you can do to dissociate.
Dissociation is a state in which you are mentally separated from the world and body in which you live. When we read or watch a movie and get very engaged in it, we are dissociating because we are temporarily living in the world of the story and not in our own. Meditation is a little bit more difficult to do well, but provides an even better result because, while meditating, you achieve a level of dissociation where you do not live in any world at all! Occasional dissociation is very good for relieving stress on your mind. Used well, it can even get rid of depression :3
5.) I love flowers on graves, but I don't know which to put on my dad's for his birthday. I want it to stand out because he just passed recently, but I don't want it to look tacky, what do you think..?
5: That's awfully sweet of you :D I think you should look up different flowers and what they mean. For example, yellow roses mean friendship, and red roses mean intense love. Chrysanthemums symbolize death in older cultures. I think once you look that stuff up, you'll feel much more confident about making a decision.
