"Pimp" Your Life!

Dear fellow Scarleteeners!

I am excited and enthused to present to you To Be... AWESOME or Just Be –– Tips on Making the Most of Your Life Right Now! This article, currently found in the TAKE TWO! Relationships section, seeks to provide motivation as well as encourage perspiration when it comes to changing your life to be the way you wish it were– while reminding you not to forget to stop and smell the roses in your current situation.

When I came across Scarleteen a couple years ago, I was immediately hooked in by the fun, informative, and empowering articles written by Heather Corinna and other site contributors– reading them felt like being a kid in a candy store without the cavity risk, and I kept wanting more. The site showed the clear connection that "Knowledge is Power," and how it's sexy empowerment at that. I am proud to add "To Be AWESOME", my "first time" contribution, to the existing and constantly growing collection of sex ed and sexuality-related articles here at Scarleteen.com.

Some people, especially elderly citizens reminiscing about their glory days, are said to live in the past. But what do you do as a teen when the present isn’t where you want to be and the future seems to be light years away, that you’re like a modern-day Sisyphus, eternally punished to push that boulder almost all the way up the hill only to have to roll back day after day. OK, that may be a slight exaggeration there, but you know what I mean. Therefore, “life makeover” shows seem incredibly appealing “You’ll turn your life around in just two months-edited-into-thirty minute episodes!” I was watching a lot of those shows when I started working on this article a few years ago; that’s where the working title “Pimp” My Life, catchy if not exactly ST-appropriate (got your attention, didn’t it?), came from. However, just as we know those weight-loss pills and crash diets don’t work, those shows are generally equally unrealistic. Change can happen, but it takes time, a personal commitment, support of loved ones– and a lot of hard work. People must have figured this out, since the heyday of such reality television is over.

You, on the other hand, have today, tomorrow, next month, next year, next decade, and hopefully many years beyond! If you are a dreamer, keep dreaming but take action, too. Sign up for that martial arts course, tell your parents that you’re dying to learn guitar, and ask Aunt Tilda to start sharing those favorite recipes. Notice the inter-connectedness of the different aspects of your life– and how your actions today can really affect your future, both positively and negatively.

Thank you for taking the time to read To Be... AWESOME or Just Be –– Tips on Making the Most of Your Life Right Now! and I hope you find it useful– or at least a read worthy of the time you spent on it. I would also appreciate your feedback: love it or leave it, what did you like and what would you change? Were there any topics not addressed or just glossed over, and you would like more information?

Happy Reading!

xoxo Femke

Comments

haha yeah i totally agree about the whole living in the past problem, like i remember when i was a teenager i felt like i could do anything and not have to deal with the consequences! but now i've matured and 23, and proud to be AWESOME!