8th grade can be a tough time. I’d moved schools and cities. No friends, new system, new step dad, and more. The thing is, whatever else is going on in your life, what you learn in the next four years will be very important for your future.
What kind of adult life do you want? You may not know exactly what profession you will pursue, that’s okay. Do you want to pay your own bills or rely on parents and government? Do you want to have some discretionary income to take vacations and pursue your hobbies? Would you like to spend your life worrying about the next pay/bill cycle? What kind of freedoms would you like to have? What, at the moment, would you like the purpose of your life to be? If the latter is to sit around and watch TV the odds are you won’t get far. But if in 7th grade and before or in your non-school life you’ve found some things you like to do (actively vs passively liking sitting) would you like to find ways to enjoy those things later in life?
The reality is that good performance in middle and high school will open doors for you at university and/or other options. Every day you perform below your capability deepens habits that will stick. Every day you perform to your best you are building learning and performing muscles in your mind and body. Arete is the Greek word for excellence. Even excellence in video games might get you a job in the Air Force driving drones. You might read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s a good discussion of the value of excellence vs mediocre vs sloth in the world.
Your home environment, your brain chemistry, your habits to date may leave you bored and uninterested in the school you are in now. Hard to change those. What you can change is your determination to make something of yourself and what that means is finishing high school to the best of your ability—so that you have more rather than fewer options at graduation.
Also, the biological fact is that exercise creates endorphins in the body, chemicals that feel good. I encourage you to incorporate some active exercise daily in your life—even if it’s walking or riding a bike to and from school.
Ask yourself when you wake up, “what can I learn today about how the world works and about what I like and don’t like to do?” Then go out and find that thing and write them down at the end of each day. After four years, you’ll have over a thousand personal lessons that you have sought and found, one a day, that you can build on for the rest of your life.
As others have said, not every minute in life is stimulating—unless you find the thing you have passion for, are good at, and that people will pay you for. DaVinci likely was never bored. Nor Elon Musk. So turn to yourself, and ask yourself what you want to learn. If the answer is nothing, you are today what you will be tomorrow. It’s your life. You can do with it what you want. If you side-slip the early educational days, you are penalizing yourself. If you make every day a chance to learn something new and interesting, and record those daily, soon you’ll be an energetic learner and full of energy.
Now, brain chemistry, family support, neighborhood, friends, all contribute to your motivation. If your parents aren’t encouraging, if your friends think school is stupid, if you are tempted to get high every day, whatever…. it’s your life. And the choices you make now, while not permanent, will make YOUR future better or more difficult. School is a means to learn lifelong learning habits that you can use forever. Live inside out, not outside-in, and choose to do the things that will raise the probability (no guarantee) of your future happiness.
What kind of adult life do you want? You may not know exactly what profession you will pursue, that’s okay. Do you want to pay your own bills or rely on parents and government? Do you want to have some discretionary income to take vacations and pursue your hobbies? Would you like to spend your life worrying about the next pay/bill cycle? What kind of freedoms would you like to have? What, at the moment, would you like the purpose of your life to be? If the latter is to sit around and watch TV the odds are you won’t get far. But if in 7th grade and before or in your non-school life you’ve found some things you like to do (actively vs passively liking sitting) would you like to find ways to enjoy those things later in life?
The reality is that good performance in middle and high school will open doors for you at university and/or other options. Every day you perform below your capability deepens habits that will stick. Every day you perform to your best you are building learning and performing muscles in your mind and body. Arete is the Greek word for excellence. Even excellence in video games might get you a job in the Air Force driving drones. You might read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s a good discussion of the value of excellence vs mediocre vs sloth in the world.
Your home environment, your brain chemistry, your habits to date may leave you bored and uninterested in the school you are in now. Hard to change those. What you can change is your determination to make something of yourself and what that means is finishing high school to the best of your ability—so that you have more rather than fewer options at graduation.
Also, the biological fact is that exercise creates endorphins in the body, chemicals that feel good. I encourage you to incorporate some active exercise daily in your life—even if it’s walking or riding a bike to and from school.
Ask yourself when you wake up, “what can I learn today about how the world works and about what I like and don’t like to do?” Then go out and find that thing and write them down at the end of each day. After four years, you’ll have over a thousand personal lessons that you have sought and found, one a day, that you can build on for the rest of your life.
As others have said, not every minute in life is stimulating—unless you find the thing you have passion for, are good at, and that people will pay you for. DaVinci likely was never bored. Nor Elon Musk. So turn to yourself, and ask yourself what you want to learn. If the answer is nothing, you are today what you will be tomorrow. It’s your life. You can do with it what you want. If you side-slip the early educational days, you are penalizing yourself. If you make every day a chance to learn something new and interesting, and record those daily, soon you’ll be an energetic learner and full of energy.
Now, brain chemistry, family support, neighborhood, friends, all contribute to your motivation. If your parents aren’t encouraging, if your friends think school is stupid, if you are tempted to get high every day, whatever…. it’s your life. And the choices you make now, while not permanent, will make YOUR future better or more difficult. School is a means to learn lifelong learning habits that you can use forever. Live inside out, not outside-in, and choose to do the things that will raise the probability (no guarantee) of your future happiness.
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