SHED THE NOISE Unit 1 : Lesson 1

The first step in any life decision is to identify ‘the noise’ in your life and to begin to figure out how to shed the unnecessary pressures you may feel.

Identifying ‘the noise’ in your life Whether you are aware of it or not, every day we make decisions that define what our lives will be like. How we decide to spend our free time What elective classes we want to take What friends we choose to spend time with

Being aware of our decisions allows us to greatly impact the course of our lives for the better and make choices that move us towards our passions and towards being happy. If you are making healthy decisions and you are happy with your choices, you are more likely to produce more creative ideas and be a more productive member of society.

Every choice we make defines who we are and what our lives are going to be like. Unless we become aware of how and why we make decisions, we wont learn to make choices based on what we want. This will lead to frustration. When it comes to young people as yourselves, this will likely lead to frustrations in terms of what college you want to go to, what field you want to study, and eventually, what career path you want to pursue.

As a middle school student you may have already noticed that your friends, family and other people in your life have an opinion about the decisions you make. Maybe you are feeling the pressure to do certain things, hang out with certain people or just follow the crowd to please other people. These pressures will most likely increase as you move on to high school.

What is noise? No matter where it comes from, (family, friends, teachers, or society) the things we hear that we “should” be doing with our lives – we call this “NOISE.” It is all around us and it is different for everyone. “you should join the military like your dad and your grandfather” “you weren’t meant to take honors classes, you are not that smart” “you know you are not smart enough to go to that school” “you are too little to play that sport”

By learning to identify “the noise” we can determine what influences are pushing us towards our true selves and what influences are holding us back. Be open with yourself and you will be able to determine what insight is valuable and reflects your true self.

Shedding the “Noise” We have to do away with this “noise” – SHED THE NOISE – so it doesn't’t influence the decisions you make as you define yourself. No matter what the “noise” is, nor where it comes from, it is important to remember that “shedding the noise” doesn’t mean throwing out everything we hear that we disagree with. It is about learning to be mature enough to honestly consider the advice and opinions you are hearing from other people. It is about learning what you can from what you hear and deciding what messages you want to keep and what messages you need to let go of to stay true to yourself.

Exercise 3 What is your “noise.” Write an essay in paragraph form, about the “noise” you hear around you, even if your “noise” is self-doubting noise. Please use illustrations to help you describe what you are hearing. Be as creative as you would like. Surf!!