I was counseling a student who was struggling with depression and he didn’t believe he could graduate from middle school. I could relate because I struggled with having confidence in myself throughout middle school (i.e., Junior High) as a result of not being able to read or comprehend core class content well.
How about you? Did you struggle with confidence and or depression throughout 6th-8th grades?
Whenever I give council, and or advice at any level, I consider who is before me. In other words, I obtain as much background information as possible so I can help the individual solve the issue at hand.
With that being said, I told one of my coaching stories to assist this young man in gaining some confidence in himself. In short, I shared how I struggled with reading, writing and taking tests in school. I didn’t have a school counselor to confide in or assist me with positive mindset strategies to apply in/out of classroom settings.
His home life is an absolute mess: his father is in jail, his mother works three jobs from sun up to late into the evenings and his older siblings rotate cooking a variety of frozen t.v. dinners at night for dinner. Often, he stays up until midnight or beyond watching movies on television.
Wow. How many of you reading this feel blessed and very grateful about how and where you were raised? I know I’m full of gratitude to have been brought up in a loving home with parents who were far from perfect but were always there when I needed them!
After several ‘mini 10 minute’ counseling sessions with this student, I was able to gradually instill more confidence in him. As a result of going to tutoring on a daily basis and following some of my healthy mindset strategies such as journaling on the bus and before going to bed, he’s improved his grades as well as interpersonal relationships with his peers.
Learn, dream and achieve in your classroom of life and give back to someone who can’t give back to you.
Please tune into our LIAC podcast episode on having confidence to overcome depression:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-is-a-classroom/id1570152396?i=1000548287527
*The Life is a Classroom podcast on Apple will be resuming this summer with our ‘Bloom Where You Are' Season 4 and our ‘Bloom Where You Are’ book 📖 launch.*
-Coach N.-
LifeIsAClassroom.net