Allie’s Comments

I was walking around yesterday, and on a bench a girl was reading a “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book. It made me nostalgic.

Through my own observation, many times when I go into a child’s room, I will see  “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books stacked high beside their bed on a night shelf. I’ve also observed mothers, fathers and teachers reading these books.

When I was young these books were basically thought of as a Christian devotional, especially for pre-teen and teenage girls.

I grew up in a church, as a pastor’s kid. I remember every Christmas and every birthday I would be given at least one “Chicken Soup” book from people who went to our church.

I do not think you need to be a Christian to read these books. In fact, many people who are not Christian do. These books are the kinds of books that have those feel good stories in them.

They have stories about love and self-esteem. These books can be very positive I think. The books seem to be encouraging, positive and helpful.

The great thing about reading something that is positive and encouraging, whether it is “Chicken Soup” or not, is that you have opportunities to share what you read with others.

I would never discourage reading anything that makes you feel good. So if “Chicken Soup” books are it, read them. If fashion magazines make you feel good, read those. Find something that you can use as a tool to make yourself feel good. Remember, if it makes you feel good, it will make someone else feel good to. So share.

Some say clothes are not important for your self –esteem and you need to focus on your inner beauty. Others claim clothes are very important for your self-esteem.

My personal opinion fits right in the middle of the other two. I do think that clothes are important, I think they have a great potential to help to make you feel good about yourself.

I do not necessarily think that you have to wear trendy clothes or expensive clothes to raise your personal esteem. Actually, I don’t think that at all. I think you should wear clothes that fit well, not baggy but also not tight. You know what I mean clothes that fit appropriately. I think everyone should get up in the morning take a shower, and put on a clean outfit everyday.

In an Enzine article about clothing and self-esteem, Edward Rybakov, the writer believes that clothes are not important, and if you are self-confident than you just wear what you want to and will feel comfortable with the way you look no matter what you are wearing.

Rybakov’s quote in the end states, “Don’t make a mistake on becoming addictive to clothes advertised by media. Become addicted in exploring and enjoying yourself. You can feel comfortable any time you want in any clothes you have if you decide to”

As much as I would like to fully agree with this philosophy I don’t believe I can. Is it good to love the inner you? Yes. Is it good to feel confident about whom you are? Yes. However, I also think it is good to dress in clean and appropriate clothing.

There are individuals who are overweight, and who wear clothes that fit way too tight. There are individuals wearing frumpy clothes.

And I’m sorry, it is great for people to feel comfortable in their clothing, however, I think it is crucial to appear confident and if someone is dressing in clothing too tight or too big or not right, than they do not appear confident. They have the appearance of having to show off their body, or wanting to hide their body.

Edward Rybakov, who wrote the Enzine article, might argue with this point by saying that those people don’t have high esteem if they are dressing this way, however, I will counter him with his own argument and say that those individuals are just comfortable in what they are wearing.

According to an article written in “Skepchick” magazine teenagers are becoming confident and are wearing less and less clothes since the 1990s. Skepchick, I think this is a very interesting observation. I do not think I’m going to go as far to say as there are a higher percentage of teenagers being more confident in their looks; However, I think that many teenagers are not being taught how to dress appropriately for their specific body type. This may be a result of home affairs or peer pressure.

All I know is if you follow my advice and put on clean, well-fitted and comfortable clothing, you will no doubt feel better about yourself during the day.

Dressing in appropriate clothing makes everyone look better therefore feel better about how they look and who they are. This could lead to success in school, at work and with your social life.

Just for a reminder, just because it is appropriate and fits well does not mean that it is uncomfortable.

Jobs seem to be a headache for many people. At least through my observations they do. There are individuals who dislike their job and blame their low-esteem and depression on it. Also, everyday, people struggle finding a job. Others have a hard time keeping one.

Crystal Woods wrote an article called, “Self-Esteem at Worl.”

Woods talks about how to keep your attitude positive. I really enjoy the approach she takes, because I think it is important to remember that you make your own day. For example, if you wake up in the morning and say, “Oh, I hate that I have to go to work today.” Chances are that you are not going to have a very successful day at work. However, if you wake up saying that you are going to do your best at work than at the end of the day you can go home and say, “I had a successful day, and did a good job.”

In Woods’ article she gives us some good advice. Her first tip is to come home and take some time and write down your accomplishments for the day. The reason this is great advice is because you can see that you had result from your day. You accomplished your tasks and now you are free to go home for the evening, as Woods said, in a positive frame of mind.

I also enjoy her last tip she shares. It is important to remember that you are not working for nothing. You are getting paid, you are earning money, this should make you feel good, and want to go to work everyday with a positive attitude and do the best you can.

Remember, if your job is stressful, or if you get criticized a lot by your employer or if you are just plainly miserable at your work, that you make your own day. And until you get a different job, you should go to your current one with the expectation of success. Maybe doing this will result in a raise or you will receive some positive feedback from your boss. Going to your work positive could help put yourself and your co-workers in a better atmosphere and therefore help raise everyone’s personal esteem.

I find many people in my life struggling to find a job. They have interviews and more interviews; however, they can never quite seal the deal.

In Eugene Raudsepp’s article, Strong Self-Esteem Can Help You Advance, he talks about Bob. I really enjoy this example. When you read the article what Raudsepp is saying is very true. If you are confident about yourself others will have confidence in you. If you think that you make a lot of mistakes, and you can’t do as good as a job as others may be able to do the chances are that you won’t get the job.

I have a friend who is currently job searching. She has told me about her interviews and every time she tells me, I see where it went wrong. For example, at one of her interviews a question that was asked to her was, “What makes you different than your co-workers?”

She answered saying, “Well, we all do the same jobs, so nothing really.” Her answer seemed to be lacking a sense of confidence. It appears she did not have the confidence to admit she was dependable, responsible, great with customers, or learns quickly. In other words she could not find any positive attributes to say about herself.

I do believe a major key for opening a door for a job you are wanting is confidence. You should believe you can do it better than anyone else. When you can start to feel this way about yourself, that is when you will get the job that you want and or are applying for.

This is an exciting time in my life. I have wanted to be a blog writer for a long time now. I am so thankful for the class Pods, Blogs and New Media, because of the potential skills I can learn from it.

One of my goals is to become an internationally known blogger, with a blog that focuses on the positive rather than the negative aspects of life.

I believe that I will be able to take my ideas, concepts and experiences and turn them into significant results in young lives throughout the world. I am confident that this class will help to teach me how to do this.

It is my plan to deal with the issues of self-esteem on all of my posts. I want to cover subjects such as how to be happy, how to influence friends, how to stay physically fit, how to control a diet, how to deal with depression and different techniques, or steps to take, in order to raise personal esteem.

A reason I came to the university I am at is because I could acquire classes that would teach me how to become a significant blogger.

As a result of this opportunity I am expecting to learn how to become a better writer and how to make my blog successful. I also hope to learn more about the Internet and how the media is using it as a tool. This is going to be a very important skill to learn because I believe the Internet is and will continue to be a very powerful tool for communication.

I am hopeful that as a result of this experience of learning to blog, I will acquire more knowledge about self-esteem and be able to transfer it to my readers.