Saturday 26 September 2015

Relationships

Hey guys! So as you may have already guessed, today's post is about relationships.

Now, my relationships (if you could even call them that) haven't been very successful. I think that the longest relationship I've ever had lasted about 2 maybe 3 months. And I think that one was from year 7/8 so we probably never had a proper conversation face-to-face. Year 7 relationships were great weren't they *note the sarcasm*.

But anyway, if you've read/seen my latest tweet (@teenagelifebeth) you may know that yesterday was my nan and grandad's 50th wedding anniversary (golden).

Now, I could never imagine any relationship of mine lasting that long. They got married when they were 20 and 22 which is pretty young. That's basically saying in 5-7 years time, I'm going to be married (I'm not, btw).

But I don't see how they've made their marriage last this long. I didn't even know it was their 50th anniversary until a few weeks ago (best granddaughter ever me).

I guess the point of today's post is that every girl (if you're like me) dreams of meeting the one and staying together for the rest of your life. I'm yet to meet that person. Or maybe I have already met them? Maybe I go to school with that person and we'll meet again in 10 years time and spend the rest of our lives together. Who knows?

I mean, I saw a post somewhere online (the internet takes me to weird places) and someone was saying how they'd dated this guy when they were 15 (my age) and about 10 years later they bumped into each other and they're now married and have 2 kids with a third on the way. How awesome would that be? They hadn't even kept in contact with each other for all those years.

I also see girls posting on the internet how they're 16 and have never had a boyfriend or haven't had their first kiss or think they're gonna be alone forever. If you're one of those people, don't think you're alone in that cause you're not. And you may think those things but you will have a boyfriend, you will have your first kiss and you won't be alone forever. I'm still quite young and I've learnt from past experiences that you can be chasing the wrong guy when the right guy is behind you. You've just got to know where to look. Don't worry, you'll find him. You've just got to be patient.

I'm probably the last person to be giving out relationship advice but if you want to ask anything, feel free to comment below. If it's more personal, feel free to DM me on twitter @teenagelifebeth and I will reply.

Love Beth xx


Saturday 19 September 2015

Fake Friends vs Real Friends

So after being back at school for just over a week, I've decided that today's post should be about the differences between fake friends and real friends.

Unfortunately for us, it's often difficult for us to tell the difference between who are our fake friends and who are our real friends. Hopefully today's post should help you tell the difference between both of these.

I'm a very stupid person. In year 7, I started school with two of my best friends from primary. They were real friends.

By year 8, we'd all made a few other friends and we were all in one group together. But one or two of those friends made other friends and started to hang out with us AND them. I was also kind of friends with these other people. And instead of staying with my true friends, I slowly started to hang out with these other people, consequently leading to the loss of two of my real friends, leading to the loss of many others.

Now I'm in year 11, and have as good as lost those two real friends that I had in year 7 forever. Me and one of them pretty much haven't talked since the start of the year. Me and the other one are in the same form and the same PE class (core and GCSE) so we still talk, but only for the sake of it really. If we go to separate sixth form's/colleges next year, I can hardly see us staying friends.

I wish I'd stayed friends with the two of them now. It might have made my life a whole lot easier. But I guess we can never turn back the clock. And I guess this was all bound to happen anyway. My life may be at a low now, but I'm only hoping that's because I'm about to go up to a high. And who knows what that high may be? I certainly don't.

So here is 11 questions to think about:
Do they support all the choices you make?
Do they love your dorky personality?
Do they forgive you for anything?
Do they always have your back?
Do they let you explore your interests?
Do they know all of your little quirks?
Do they constantly keep in contact?
Can they keep your secrets?
Can you look gross when hanging out?
Do they make time for you?
Do they always give you a shoulder to cry on?

You really have to think hard about the answers to these questions. Here is the link if you want a little more information to help you answer these questions http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/11-differences-between-real-friends-and-fake-friends.html
If you answered yes to the majority/all of these questions then they are your real friends. If you answered no to the majority/ all of these questions then they are fake friends. I would say that if it's 50/50 then they're kind of your real friends but it's touch and go as to whether you'll stay friends for years to come.




If there are any topics that you want me to talk about in my posts, please comment below and I'll try my best to talk about them.

Please don't forget to follow my twitter @teenagelifebeth

Love Beth xx

Thursday 10 September 2015

Suicide

Looking through twitter today, it has come to my attention that today is World Suicide Prevention Day. So for this blog post, I'm going to be talking about suicide and how you can help to prevent it. I would recommend to you now that if you think this might trigger you to do something that you stop reading this now but I think that this might help some people with what they're going through.

Suicide isn't a laughing matter. There are many things that can cause a person to want to end it all; therefore resulting in suicide. They are in so much pain mentally (and sometimes physically) that they feel like they can no longer cope with what's going on around them.

A lot of people that commit suicide or have suicidal thoughts, have depression. These people tend to shut themselves out from the rest of the world and sometimes feel like there is no one there for them to talk to. A lot of people don't realise what these people are going through so don't really try to help that person with what they're going through. Others do know what that person is going through but don't know how they can help them.

Statistics show that in 2012, 21% of people in contact with the Samaritans (over 600,000 people) said they had suicidal feelings. Also in 2012, on average 4590 men committed suicide and 1391 women committed suicide; giving an overall total of 5981. Also, the lowest suicide age group for males in 2012 was 15-19 year olds and the highest was 40-44. The lowest for women was 15-19 year olds and the highest was 50-54 year olds. Over 20 years from 1992-2012, the year where the most men committed suicide was 1998 and the lowest year suicide rate was 2008. For women, the highest year was 1992 and the lowest was 2006.

I think what has surprised me the most by looking at these figures is that there are more men committing suicide than women. I guess this is because society today is convinced that women are the ones that self-harm and get depressed; resulting in suicide.

Being 15, I'm growing up in an ever-changing world, yet these problems still exist. I have seen a few suicidal posts on social media (mostly instagram) and it's just the fact that the majority of people like that post but don't bother to comment anything or offer them any kind of help. I don't know whether it's because these people don't know what to say that can help them or if they couldn't care less as it's not their problem.

I'm writing this post today to tell you all something. If you think that by ignoring a post or the actual person who has suicidal thoughts because it's not your problem that it's okay; it's not. You could help to save someones life just by commenting something or talking to them in person to make them see that their life is worth living.

People who feel the need to commit suicide could be experiencing hopelessness, helplessness, fear, bullying, loss of inspiration, lack of faith, feeling unloved/unlovable and/or depression. If you are going through any of these or know someone that is, this website http://www.harnessinghappiness.org/suicidalfeeling.aspx gives great advice to anyone going through any of these feelings.

But it's not just down to a website to talk someone out of suicide, it's also down to someone who genuinely cares for that person.

I have a friend who is depressed and on New Year's Eve last year, she was going to commit suicide. As it was the holidays and we were off school, I remember sitting there in fear, scared that I'd get a phone call or something telling me that she was dead. I remember thinking 'I wish I could help her'. And I did. Me and a few others managed to talk her out of it and she is still alive today. She is still a little depressed and obviously has her moments, but she's doing better than she was last year.

See what talking to someone can do to stop them committing suicide?

So I beg you that if you know someone who has suicidal thoughts, to talk them out of it. You could save a life. If it is you that is feeling suicidal and feels like you want to talk to someone that isn't anyone you know, my twitter is @teenagelifebeth. Please don't be afraid to contact me. I will try and help you in the best way that I can. I would hate for any of you to have to go through this.

Love Beth xx

Tuesday 1 September 2015

Loneliness

So, as you can guess from the title, today's post is about loneliness.

In my view, being lonely can mean a variety of things. It can go from an old person being on their own at Christmas, to a teenager feeling left out. That last one is me.

Whenever I'm with my 'friends', I have the tendency to feel left out most of the time. I guess it's always been this way. In primary I had five 'best friends' and I was the one that was always getting left out. If we had to work in pairs, they'd pair up together. If we had to work in groups of four, they would always go together. None of them were ever the ones being left out. It was always me. I should of known then that this would be the start of my loneliness.

Now I'm 15 and still feel lonely. I'm not really friends with the ones I was at primary. Two of them go to another school and the other two go to the same school as me. Both of them are best friends. I am friends with another group of people now.

And that group of 'friends' leave me out a lot as well.

On Saturday it was one of my friends birthday. She is a genuine friend. Me and five others went round to hers for a sleepover. I was excited as I haven't seen any of my 'friends' all summer. I thought we'd all be catching up. How wrong I was.

They all pretty much ignored me. Two of them hugged me when I first got there and we chatted a little bit but I was getting left out of the conversation quite a lot. It's the same every time. I don't know why I thought that night would be any different. I mean, they have all been hanging out all summer and leaving me out.

I'm pretty sure I got quieter as the night went on. I barely spoke. I know I'm naturally a quiet person, but I normally talk more than that. I guess that's why I get left out a lot. Because I'm quiet. But just because a person's quiet, doesn't mean that they should get/feel left out. Right?

The worst part of this is that I worry that this is how the rest of my life is going to end up. That I'm going to die a lonely, old woman. That I won't ever get married or have kids. That I will lose all my friends. That I'll be alone for the rest of my life.

Do any of you ever feel like this? That maybe you're not good enough for anyone? Comment below your experiences of feeling alone. Maybe I can help you become un-alone (don't think that's a word). Give you some advice. Maybe you could give me some advice? The only advice I can think of for myself is become less quiet and more loud. That's what I'm gonna try when I go back to school a week on Thursday. I don't know if it's going to work or not but I'll let you know in a few weeks.

Love Beth xx