PROJECT AWESOME - from feeling awful to feeling Awesome

Shae is a character in my novel Sassy Jam and also Payback (which you can read free on this blog).

She has had a hard time trusting guys because her dad used to hit her mom – before he died. Over time, her belief is that she, being a girl, isn’t worth much – so she never feels secure in her relationship with Drew. So self esteem can affect all parts of your life from relationships to your career, your school work, your friendships and your future choices.

So Project Awesome is something that's close to my heart as most teen fiction characters have an issue with self-esteem. And that's because they reflect real teens who also, generally, could do with a boost in self-esteem. So Project Awesome is all about changing your mindset so you can go from feeling awful to feeling pretty awesome.

I had some more teens write in to me about what they think you should do to feel awesome, rather than awful:

ZoeT says IF YOU’RE FEELING DOWN, DON’T SHOW IT. MAKE YOURSELF THINK YOU’RE FEELING GOOD TODAY EVEN IF YOU’RE HAVING A BAD DAY. DON’T THINK ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL, OR THEY TAKE CONTROL OF YOU.

I can see how ZoeT is coping, but it’s not very satisfactory for her – why should she feel awful and pretend not to feel that way?

Self esteem refers to how we view and think about ourselves and the value that we place on ourselves as a person. Having low self esteem means you have a negative overall opinion of yourself and you judge yourself negatively.

These deep seated beliefs are repeated so often that they become facts or truths you actually believe about yourself. You then go through life feeling pretty awful about yourself. The trick is to learn ways of changing those deep seated beliefs. Pretending you’re fine when you’re not, is a way of coping, but it’s not a way of changing your mindset.

Next week we’ll talk about steps you can take to change how you feel about yourself, so you can go from feeling awful, to feeling awesome! You can also watch all the Project Awesome videos right here on the VIDEO link.

See you very soon :)