Hey everybody. Do I sound different? It's because I'm sick. But not too sick to answer
your questions!
First of all thanks to everybody who offered advice to viewer Brianna on bullying and before
I get into this week's questions I just wanted to read off a comment from @Amber Williams.
'I've been bullied and I've been the bully. I was bullied a lot until about 4th grade,
then I snapped. It wasn't until high school that I stopped. I've apologized to those that
I've been able to contact since then and looking at why I was bullying I just started to pity
bullies, not hating them. I was hurting thought that is no excuse. There were some pretty
bad things that happened to me that I won't say here and I took it out on the wrong people.
We can't take it back but I apologize as a former bully.' And maybe that's something
to keep in mind for people like Brianna and others who are dealing and have dealt with
bullies is that a lot of times that aggression is probably coming from a dark place in those
bullies lives and while I know that doesn't minimize the pain that they are inflicting
on you, it might offer some perspective on how to overcome that in your own life. I got
a question here from @LeopardRoar who is a bit distraught. 'Over the course of my life
I have been freakishly happy constantly.' Lucky you. 'My default mode has been happy.
But recently in my life stuff has been changing and I have been getting much more stressed
and a little depressed. I am afraid to ask my parents because they might think I am,'
all caps, 'suicidal depressed which I am,' all caps, 'not. I also used to be "perfect
student" I always was able to mentally keep track of everything and this year I just can't
focus on what I need to do. Advice?' Here's my advice @LeopardRoar. This by no means is
me dismissing your concerns but it sounds to me like you are going through puberty.
This resonates a lot like what it felt like for me when I went through puberty. The world
went from being very simple to being very complicated. I think what you're going through
is perfectly natural, probably the result of yes life changing, things getting a little
bit more complicated day to day made all the more complicated by changes that are probably
happening in your brain and in your body. I would also encourage you that if you have
a good relationship with your parents to talk to them. They might not assume that you're
completely suicidal unless you say that hey mom and dad I feel completely suicidal, they
might be able to take some of those stressors off of you. Also reach out to friends if you've
got them to talk about things that are probably happening similarly in their lives. While
you might not be quote unquote 'freakishly happy constantly', there are amazing things
ahead of you. And finally on this week's Ask Sick Cristen, we have a question from @CheezeWolf
who says, [laughter] CheezeWolf? 'I don't have any talents besides school related talents
(math) and I don't have anything I'm passionate about. How do I become less boring?' To phrase
your question another way you want to know how to become more interesting and you're
saying that you don't have interests or passions outside of the passions and interests you
listed which is for example math. Listen @CheezeWolf, you are talented and smart and you do have
interests, one of which is math and I don't see anything wrong with having that kind of
school-related talent. Now I know walking up to a girl and saying hey lady you want
to know about the Pythagorean Theorem. Maybe not the sexiest thing in the world. The best
thing in the world you can do for yourself is parlay the talents that you have in school-related
activities such as math into self-confidence. Whatever kind of skills that you have that
are school related are really going to set you up for quite a successful future. And
beyond that if you want to become less boring aka more interesting, exercise your curiosity.
It's from cultivating that curiosity that the passion that you are looking for is probably
going to emerge from. First you got to explore. You got to get out there. See some things,
consume media and exercise your brain more than, even more than you already are. You're
already off to a good start @CheezeWolf. Because you already have talents and abilities and
interests and you should not be ashamed of them. Find confidence in the stuff that you
are good at. Those are very valuable and profitable skills, believe me. And now lovely viewers
I want to hear from you, what input and advice do you have on the stuff that I talked about
this week and if you have any input and advice on how I can get over this wretched cold that
would be great. Ask me your questions below. Anything you want to know, I'll try my best
to tackle. See you next week.