Tuesday, May 19, 2015

I'm the Driver of my Own Destiny

ENTRY 10:

One of the valuable things I've learned from 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens is that no matter what your background is, you can achieve anything you set your mind too. If none of your family members have gone to college and you think that you wont make it, you do everything you can to be the first out of your family to get to college. Another valuable things I've learned is that you need to be more proactive. Look at the good side of things and stay positive. Be the bigger person in a situation and don't let stupid things get to you. Another valuable thing is having a mission statement. Know what you want in the future and work hard to get there. Be on a mission to get to where you want to be.
What I will take and apply to my everyday life is set goals for myself. I constantly set goals for myself and work hard to complete them. I will sharpen my focus by focusing on one of my goals and work extra hard to achieve it.
7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens is a very good read. It gives so much advice to young teens and helps with real life situations. There is a lot I can learn from it, like being a change agent in your community. It teaches us to be the change that we want to see in our life. It helps with situations like peer pressure and the consequences of giving into peer pressure. It helps teens what to do in a situation like that. I also like when it talks about overcoming obstacles and it gives you steps to overcome tough situations.
I think Mrs. Gibbs' should continue teaching out of the book. At first when I saw the book I though it was going to be boring and I didn't want to read it at all. Once I started reading it, it helped me look at a whole new perspective. It got me thinking more about my future. It had some real life situations that actually related to me. It gave tons of helpful advice.
I definitely applied some of the advice from the book to my life. The advice has helped me become more focus on my future and what I want to do in the future. I started to become more serious in school and I have set a goal to make straight A's. I really want to make it to college so I tell myself to try extra extra hard in school.
I would rate the book a 5. It just gives so much helpful advice and teens can really learn from it.
I will become the driver of my own destiny. I will make choices on my own and choices that I think is better for me. I will do all I can to get to where I want to be. I'm starting to take AP classes and I'm doubling up on classes to help me get there.

My Family Tree

ENTRY 9:

In my family there is my mom, Mimi; my dad, Erik; and my brother, Landon. We enjoy going out to eat together and talking about how our day has been or just a bunch of random stuff and we like to have get-togethers at our house mostly every Sunday. Every Christmas we always have 3 places to go. First we go to my Nana's house on Christmas Eve, and that after that we go to my Grandmama's house. On Christmas Day we go to my mom's side of the family and we go to my Grandma's house. Every year we usually go on vacation to Florida with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. One time we all stayed in one beach house together and it was pretty crammed.  I think I have the traditional type of family. It's just my mom, dad, brother, and I all living under the same roof. What I think makes a family function well is having communication and understanding, Without communication and understanding, it sometimes makes the family drift apart. Another thing that makes a family function well is just spending quality time together. Enjoying each others company.
My family and I are always at each others necks sometimes. If we had a disagreement on something, we will sit there and argue for hours. But in the end we forget what we were even arguing about. 

Monday, May 18, 2015

"What about Marriage?"

ENTRY 8:

My view about marriage is about two people who are committed and truly in love with each other. Marriage is about spending the rest of your life with the person you are willing to share that with. A good marriage involves two people who love, care, trust, and is willing to have compromise. What I expect from my spouse is someone with a good personality, caring, trustworthy, humorous, adventurous, and has a good mind set. The qualities that I will bring is being supporting, caring, love, and basically all of the qualities that I would expect from my spouse. I think that divorce just shows that you two were not ready to get married in the first place. I feel like if you haven't been with that person long enough then you should not get married. You need time to get to know a lot about them. I think one is ready for marriage when they know much about their partner and are fully committed. I want to graduate college and have a successful job before I think about marriage.
http://www.eharmony.com/dating-advice/relationships/think-hell-propose-17-things-you-need-to-know-before-you-get-married/#.VVqJnrlViko

"The Dating Field"

ENTRY 7: 

Okay I'm no expert at dating but I think dating is about being with someone you aren't really in a full relationship with. When dating someone, you need to know that if you actually want to be with that person or if it's just a friendly hangout. You need to know if you want to go on with dating someone because if not, then you need to let that person know that it's nothing serious. If you do continue to date that person, then you need to talk about how far the relationship will go. You both need to treat each other right and care for each other.
http://teenspeak.org/2012/06/26/what-kids-need-to-know-before-they-start-dating/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/36010-dating-dangers-teenager/
Some expectations in a dating relationship is what you both expect in the relationship. You need to discuss the expectations you have for each other in the future. Sex is one of the main things that needs to be discussed in a relationship. When dating someone for a long time, you also need to know if that person is the one. I think that you should wait for marriage until you think about having sex. Teens should be highly alert of STDs and the consequences of sex. STDs are among the most infectious diseases in the US today. More than 20 STDs have been identified and they affect an estimated 19 million men and woman in this country each year. Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported infectious disease in the US. More than 700,000 persons in this country get new gonorrhea infections each year. The most common symptoms of gonorrhea are a vaginal discharge or vaginal bleeding between periods. Untreated cases can lead to serious complications, including PID, ectopic pregnancy and infertility.
http://teens.webmd.com/features/teens-stds-get-facts

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

"You Got to Have Friends!"

ENTRY 6:

Hey guys, Lylah here. Today I'm going to be talking about my best friends and the friendship I have with them.

I'm going to be talking about my friends Karen, Anna, and Mari. I love those girls to death, they mean so much to me and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I've known Mari since the 7th grade and we kinda stopped talking. That's until the beginning of 9th grade year and we hung out together a lot more and became best friends ever since. Also at the beginning of 9th grade is when I met Karen. She was new to the school. We met through mutual friends and we also found out that we had a lot in common. From then on we became best friends. I met Anna at the beginning of 10th grade. She was friends with Karen and we sorta brought her into our little group. I actually met her at one of the football games. We hung out a lot since then and got to know each other a lot better. Since then we also became best friends. To this day we are still in our little group and we still have the best times together.
At the Christmas Parade with Mari and Anna

Karen and I at the HoCo Dance











What I'm depositing into my RBA is loyalty, honesty, kindness, caring, and just being a true friend overall. I withdraw any negative attitude or conflict that I don't want to happen. If we have any differences, I withdraw any staring arguments. I always have a positive attitude when I'm around them and make sure no one is feeling down or upset. What I expect from a friend is someone who is trusting, loyal, positive attitudes, and basically everything that my friends already are. 
Listening skills can help a relationship so much. Listening shows that you care for what they have to say. If they're feeling down, just by listening to they're problem and helping, it could make them feel better. Ignoring anyone is not a good quality. Listening skills can also help the trust in a relationship. If you listen to what they have to say, then they will do the same to you. 

Monday, May 11, 2015

Overcoming Obstacles and Peer Pressure

ENTRY 5:

What Sean Covey has told me about overcoming obstacles and peer pressure is that you should make goals and steps to help you overcome those things. Create a mission statement about how you see yourself in the future. Think of things that motivate you and keep you positive. Tell yourself that you can do it. 
There was a time where I felt peer pressured into doing something that wasn't right. My friends and I were at a park and they lit a joint in front of me and were telling me to take a hit. I was obviously scared of getting in trouble by my parents. I was also scared of what could happen if I did it. So what I did was leave the park with my other friends who didn't do it and went back to my house. In my mind i was thinking, "Am I really being peer pressured right now?" I didn't want to be peer pressured into anything so I just said "no" and left. 
I have a cousin who is in 7th grade and I always tell her to not hang around people who do bad things and pressure you into doing stuff you're not suppose to. I tell her to be the bigger person and to not be weak and give in to peer pressure. Peer pressure, to me, shows that you are to weak to say "no". You have to think about what the outcome could be if you do give in. You want to make the right choices and not let anyone pressure you into anything. 
I would change bullying in my school by letting everyone know more about what bullying can do to people. I would put a stop to bullying. I would let people know that it's okay and to not be afraid to tell anyone that they are being bullied. I want them to know that they are in a safe, bully free, environment. 
Here's a website that I hope can help young teens with issues like bullying, depression, peer pressure, etc.:
Videos that I hope will inspire and motivate you.:

Thursday, May 7, 2015

"Beginning with the End in Mind"

ENTRY 4:

Hello everyone, it's Lylah, back with another post today. The topic is about "Beginning with the End in Mind" and it's about knowing and thinking about how you want your future to be. It's very important to think about your future right now while you're at a young age so you can end up living a nice successful life.
I think that you should think about your future right now because it's good to have that mind set of what you have planned for your future. Right now I am struggling with what kind of career I want in the future. So it's best for me to think of it now while I still have two years of high school left. To me, it's never too early to think about what you want to do after high school. The reason why I'm thinking about my future career right now is because I'm afraid that I still won't know what I want to do after I graduate. So it's always good to plan early and maybe make some changes along the way.
"YOLO" is one of my favorite sayings. I basically live by it. I think it's good to try new things while you're still young. You only live once so might as well. Now I don't mean you should go around acting a fool doing stupid stuff. I mean you should let loose sometimes and don't worry about what could happen. But of course there are some situations where "YOLO" should not be used. You also still have to be serious about you decisions. There are some times where you have to be an adult(rolls eyes). You have to think about the choices that you make and how it will affect you. So please don't go around using "YOLO" to every decision you make.
A scenario I know where a consequence happened would be that you have some friends who are having a party. You know there is going to be drugs and alcohol at this party. You're not someone who smokes or drinks so you're curious about what it's like. You know that it's bad and you know the consequences. But you decide to try it. Some neighbors are complaining about how loud the music at the party is so they call the police. The police show up and you and everyone else who are at the party get's busted. It could have ended way differently if you didn't go to the party.
My Personal Mission Statement is to work hard in school to get all A's for once. I want to get a college degree and be the first out of my family to go to college. So I have to work hard to get there. Right now I'm not doing so well with my grades and I feel like I'm not going to make it with good grade, but if I focus and get all of my stuff done then I won't have to stress about my grades anymore.
My goals in high school are basically the same as my mission statement, make all A's. I've never had all A's before. I really want to make it to college and I'm working extra hard. My long term goal is to have a successful life. Have a career that I really enjoy and I like doing.


Wednesday, May 6, 2015

"Character"

ENTRY 3:

Hello again, it's Lylah. Today I'm going to be talking about character and basically what makes a good character. You always want to show good character. Showing bad character is just not good, I mean, you want to get along with people right? People with good character are always positive and show respect to others. 10 characteristics that make me, me include: positive, nice, determined, intelligent, impatient, energetic, quirky, idiosyncratic, hard-working, and funny. Being positive will help you in your life because you can always look at the positive side of things. It's never good to be down all the time. By being positive you always look at the good in the situation. Being nice to people is the best characteristic anyone can have. If you're nice to others, they will be nice back. Determination can help you in your life because by being determined, you strive for what you want. You work hard at what you want to achieve.
Proactive to me is staying positive in a situation. Being the bigger person. Six ways that I'm proactive is being calm in a situation, ignoring it, knowing what will happen if I choose to be reactive, forget about it because I know that I'm the bigger person, try to find a better solution, staying positive.
Reactive to me is being negative and dealing with a situation that isn't always the best decision. Six ways that I'm reactive is not thinking before I do something, not solving the situation, staying in a bad mood the rest of the day, procrastinating, being impatient, and not having control over my actions.
I can become a change agent by doing volunteer work and getting people involved with helping out and improving the community.
A "can do attitude" I represent is always being positive and helping anyone with anything they need. Being there for people. A type of role model that I am to those younger is someone who respectful to everyone, hard worker, have my mind set for what I want, strives to succeed, and being a good student.

I think Will Smith is a person with a "can-do" attitude because he strives to be the best he can be. He is such a talented actor and overall a great person. He is a positive role model to people and lets people know that you can be or do what you want if you work hard for it. You can be on top if you set your mind to it. 

My Top 10 Favorite Things

ENTRY: 2

Hi again, it's Lylah. So today for this post, I'm going to be talking about my top 10 favorite things. So one thing that's on my "Favorites Lists" is my favorite food. I looooove spaghetti. I just love Italian food in general. I love the tangy tomato sauce in the spaghetti. I could eat pizza and pasta everyday of my life if I wanted to. As a matter of fact, I'm actually having pizza for dinner tonight.
My favorite restaurant, which is not an Italian restaurant, is Cracker Barrel. I love how it's so traditional and old timey (if that makes sense) and the food is amazing. I've been going to Cracker Barrel ever since I was basically a baby. What I like to get there is a steak with a side of green beans and mashed potatoes. If you ever get a chance to go there, I recommend the steak.
Next on my list is vacation. My favorite place to go on vacation is the beach. Preferably Destin or Pensacola Florida. My family and I go almost every summer. If we go to Destin, we usually stop by my Mamaw and Papaw's house in Pensacola to visit them on the way there. I love sitting out in the sun on the sandy beach listening to the relaxing sound of the crashing waves and the feel of the ocean breeze blowing in the air. Last year my family and I stayed in a beach house and I love how we could just walk there from the house everyday.
So the next thing on my list is probably one of my favorites and its tv shows. I looove American Horror Story and The Walking Dead. October is too long of a wait until the new seasons come on. What I love about AHS is that it's different than most tv shows. It's a new theme every season and they're all amazing. The next season is going to be called "Hotel" and I'm so excited because Lady Gaga is also going to be in it. I am so excited for the next season of TWD also. It always leaves off of a cliffhanger and now I have to wait 5 months for it to come back on. I like how it's so dramatic while there's a zombie apocalypse going on. That show always has me at the edge of my seat. Even though I don't like zombies, that show makes me hate them less.
My favorite candy in the whole world is Airheads. I love all the different kinds like Airhead bites, sour extremes, or the original taffy kind. I will love you forever if you ever get me Airheads.
 My favorite holiday would have to be Christmas obviously. I love the whole feel of the Christmas time. The pretty lights everywhere, drinking hot chocolate by the fire, setting up the Christmas tree, and spending time with the whole family.
Lately I've been obsessing over penguins. I have no idea why. I've been seeing a lot of photos of baby penguins recently. So maybe that's why my favorite animal is a penguin.
My absolute favorite beverage from Starbucks is an Iced Caramel Macchiato. I recommend that the next time you go to Starbucks.
(holding my favorite Starbucks drink)
My favorite piece of clothing in my closet is probably my flannels. I have 12 flannels in my closet at the moment. I love flannels. People say i dress "hipster". Maybe it's the flannels.
So my last favorite thing on my list is probably my favorite thing ever(if that made sense) and it's my favorite bands, which is One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer. I love them so much. I can talk about those bands all day everyday. I am a fangirl at heart and I probably fangirl about them 100 times a day. 
My favorite song that inspires me is "Am I Wrong" by Nico and Vinz and that song it about thinking out of the box, doing what you want to do. That song just reminds me to strive for what I want to do and don't let anyone get in the way or tell you that you can't do it. 







Thursday, April 30, 2015

Who Am I?

ENTRY 1:

Hi, my name is Lylah Youngblood, and welcome to my blog! I've never had a blog before, so i'm really new to this, but i'm excited to see what kinds of stuff I can do with this blog. So to start off my first ever blog, I'm going to tell you a bit about myself. So I am 16 years old and I have lived in Southaven, MS for about ten years now. I am a sophomore at Southaven High School. My hobbies include listening to music, twitter, eating(a lot), and trying to get out of the house as much as I can. I use to play soccer when I was in eighth grade, but I stopped playing because I wasn't that much interested in it anymore. A question I get asked a lot is "what are you?" and by that they mean race. When they guess they usually get it wrong and what they say usually doesn't make sense. So I am Caucasian, Laotian, and Polynesian(Hawaiian). Some abilities I have is being able to pick up objects with my foot and having a double-jointed thumb. (I normally don't pick up things with my foot btw). Some of my accomplishments would be getting over a fear I have or making a good grade on a test or something. I'm not really one of those students who gets straight A's on their report card or an honored student or receives awards. But, I have set goals that encourages me to make good grades and to not be a slacker.
What I have learned in the book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, is a lot about setting goals and what I would want to achieve in the future. I have also learned that if i set my mind to it, I can achieve it. I really want to go to college but not having any of my family members go to college, i felt that I wouldn't make it to college. But, I would be the first to go to college and that just encourages me to achieve that goal even more. What I would want to learn more in Family Dynamics, would be about goal setting and ways to accomplish them. My paradigm that I have is telling myself that what I do isn't good enough or what I say or do isn't right. Not being good enough. So I am always afraid of messing something up and it keeps me from doing what I want to do. But, what I have learned to help me through it is to never doubt yourself. I will never know until I try. What I have added to my PBA is to be more proactive. Don't let things telling me I can't do it bring me down. What I have subtracted from my PBA is being doubtful and to stop worrying about not being good enough. I've also subtracted stressing over the littlest things. I know that I can do it if i set my mind to it. Thank you for coming across by blog!
- Lylah Youngblood