Higher notch
One good trait of a person is the ability to anticipate possible consequences of one's actions. The consequence from an ill-motivated action would never be positive and would always be detrimental to one and to others. Our young people nowadays, with proper guidance, should learn to think that the consequence would provide valuable lessons in life.
And if they think such action is a way to escape from facing the problem, it is all the more aggravating it. One life skill to acquire is to face the problem and seek help from others. It has to regain oneself to a whole and not putting oneself down, and broken.
Reports around the world about fabricated kidnappings and other similar incidents are not uncommon. In 2016 in the US for instance, a young woman aged 24 was charged with false reporting by the New York State Police and Hamilton County officials after a witness said she fabricated an elaborate story of her kidnapping. Just in our midst, a college student made up a story that she had been kidnapped and it turned to be a cover-up of a real problem.
This is a reflection of the young people's inability to cope with life's challenges that lead them to resort to doing things that they think would get them out of trouble.
Or it is just to seek special attention that is by proving how many likes they get on their Facebook account, with the intention that such attention would translate to sympathy, sympathy that is founded on lies.
Keeping the problem to oneself and when it escalates to an unmanageable level, that's when one breaks down. Other members in the family are just clueless, but one obvious manifestation is when one is keeping distance from others as if one has a world different from theirs. They need to realize a problem will not be solved by putting a wall around oneself.
As we face a new year that brings feelings of a fresh start and new hopes, let us be discerning that it also brings a wave of worldly messages telling that a new year requires a new us. Messages say that we can only be happy if we lose weight, get new clothes, and find more friends. We can hear these messages in the media, at school, and sometimes even from those closest to us.
These messages are not true. If we examine them closely, we'll discover that the true motive behind these messages is usually to convince us to buy into something either with our money or time. But we don't have to!
Changing our physical appearance or material possessions may make us feel better temporarily, but it doesn't really do anything to change our worth. Our worth is already established. Our Heavenly Father loves you. And this love never changes because it is not influenced by our appearance or possessions. It is not changed by our talents and abilities. His love is there for us whether or not we feel we deserve it. It's important to understand how we can recognize these false messages about self-esteem.
Believing this lie means that we are letting worldly influences determine when we will feel good about ourselves. We then have to constantly change to conform with inconsistent and temporary ideals.
Desiring to define ourselves that is temporary or trivial in eternal terms, we de-emphasize what is most enduring and instead overemphasize what is relatively inconsequential leading us down the path that hinders our interminable progress.
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