Rise Above, Be Unstoppable! The Ultimate Growth Mindset for Teens to Overcome Challenges, Build Resilience, and Prepare for Success

Rise Above, Be Unstoppable!

The Ultimate Growth Mindset for Teens to Overcome Challenges, Build Resilience, and Prepare for Success

Ariana Smith

Copyright © 2023 Ariana Smith. All rights reserved.

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ISBN 978-9916-9880-7-7 (eBook)

ISBN 978-9916-9880-6-0 (paperback)

ISBN 978-9916-9880-5-3 (hardcover)

www.ariana-smith.com

Contents

1.Dandelion Bouquets

2.Media Pressure

3.I See You

4.Lists, Plans & Goals

5.Waiting, Wanting, Worrying . . . About Love

6.Know Your Gifts. What Are Your Talents?

7.Lasso Toxic Feelings

8.Control Your Mindset

9.The Media Circus

10.Parents/Caregivers Help Corner

Thank You

About the Author

Endnotes

References

Read More

Chapter one

Dandelion Bouquets

Have you ever picked a dandelion bouquet?

Never-have-I-ever made a dandelion bouquet. You might not even know what a dandelion is. Well, first of all, a dandelion is a very resilient little yellow flower. A flower with the word ‘lion’ in it tells us a lot! The puffball of seeds (sometimes called a clock) is often said to make wishes come true when you pick one and blow on it, to scatter the seeds in the wind. A person could take quite a few lessons from the little yellow dandelion flower, and some of those lessons will be found in this book.

Growth spurts

Dandelions are kind of like teenagers. You might be scratching your head and asking right now; How am I like a dandelion? It’s because the flowers grow so fast, just like you are growing up so quickly. Doesn’t everyone tell you that? Parents and grandparents usually look at teenagers and just shake their heads because they can’t believe you grow so quickly. Maybe you already look down at the top of your grandma or grandpa’s head. In fact, when you are about twelve and thirteen, you can change clothes and shoe sizes in a month, or a matter of weeks! Has your mom or dad griped about you growing out of your shoes and clothes too quickly? Yah, like you can stop eating, right? Of course, you won’t stop eating, because you want to grow to the height you are supposed to, and you want to look exactly how you are supposed to look.

What could that be? Absolutely anything you grow up into is a ‘perfect you.’ More on this later, but just know that every human grows into the person they are supposed to be, and with a little bit of personal work, the person they want to be, or to become. In truth, you are a work in progress! No architect of great buildings starts from the top down. In fact, even a three-year-old child building a toy block tower knows that blocks must first be placed on the floor as the foundation. Then, and only then, can the block tower grow to new heights.

What is a growth mindset?

You will learn in this book how important it is to have a growth mindset. This is your commitment to yourself that throughout your life, you will continue to learn, and your mind will continue to expand with new ideas. Just like the little yellow dandelion, which sends its roots sometimes fifteen feet deep, you will learn how to have a determined growth mindset to make your dreams come true. This means that throughout your life you will continually keep an open mind, so as to learn about new things, learn new approaches to old problems, and to new problems too. You will not allow your thought process to stagnate and become fixed with an unchanging mindset.

Your roots will also grow deep and strong like those of the dandelion, with a deep-rooted education, your well-thought-out plans, bountiful dreams, and goals as your guide. You will begin to see how your growth mindset is always open to change and to actual growth. Perhaps that is where the ancient saying about having a small mind came from. Your mind must be ready and eager to embrace all the wonderful changes which are ahead of you in your life! A mind needs to grow! A fixed mindset works great for some things, like working hard and always doing your best, but a fixed mindset in other aspects of life might hold you back from exploring new avenues.

For example, if you say, I hate science. I will never like science! I will avoid anything that has to do with science, your fixed mindset will keep you from exploring all the many different fields of science which you might enjoy and like. Having a fixed mindset with some things in your life can put limitations on your opportunities.

A growth mindset is always open to new possibilities, new challenges, and new ways of looking at ideas, problems, and issues. Perhaps for a teenager, learning and knowing when to have a fixed mindset and a growth mindset is a worthy goal. Just like the dandelion, a teenager’s goal is to be a survivor and thrive.

What characteristics about teens and dandelions are similar?

Dandelions spread out and send down their roots deep into the soil for their firm foundation. Whoa, they grow deep, right? The dandelions know that when their roots are strong and deep, they have a firm foundation. Even when the lawn mower cuts off their tops, within days they grow a new flower, and spread out even further. Teenagers also like to spread out. Some teenagers are said to be deep—meaning they are deep-thinkers who consider things carefully before acting. Channeling your deep thoughts, dreams, and wishes into productive ACTION is why you are reading this book!

Clones?

A dandelion can also clone itself if its root is cut, something which, so far, humans don’t know how to do. That isn’t saying we won’t know how to do that sort of cloning someday in the future. In fact, in truth, parts of people’s bodies can be cloned right now. In some places in the world scientists actually are cloning embryos by extracting stem cells (which can produce either more stem cells or specialist cells that grow into specific