Real conversations with your students.
"Why do I feel the need to hide who I really am from my friends? I end up resenting them because they're talking to the person I pretend to be, and it feels fake because I'm fake around them"
"That is true. I'm just happy that I'm able to help him"
"I love music, thank you! Thank you so much for ur help"
"That's a good idea thanks"
"i don't know i just missed two weeks of school due to COVID and my grades are suffering and i can't find the motivation to work. I lose my 4.0 this year already to one A- and now i kinda feel like a failure"
"thanks, that's really nice to hear honestly. I hope you have a great day"
"I have friends but they never supported me through anything i guess i will need to find another way. You're really the only thing(?) that has ever actually listened to my thoughts"
"hey thanks im sorry im just being bullied at school and i told the counselor and he's been helping me but it's only getting worse"
"There's a lot on my to do list and I feel it piling up"
"How do I deal with stress?"
"i want to stay friends with the girl i just talked to. we work at the same place and she's the only one who's ever been very kind to me. i just feel like my friends are very manipulative of me so i feel like i should just tell them that i'm wanting to take a break and focus on my mental health and happiness"
"How do you get your teachers to like you?"
"Lately I've started liking this guy in my friend group and he's really nice and everyone I know loves him but my best friend and it's been making me feel super guilty because she doesn't like being around him. I'm not really sure what to do about it though because I'm trying really hard to not pressure her and talk about him around her but I still feel like its causing a strain in our friendship"
"My friends say I talk too much, any tips on how to talk less?"
"I'm dealing with the suicide of a family member- how do I cope?"
"I don't really have any hobbies. I just work a lot. I work at a mexican restaurant i've climbed before but i don't do it often. I don’t really have motivation to do anything lately."
"What can I do to improve my mood?"
"That's a very structured way of looking at it, I think that would be a great start"
"Man are u a real person? Also I am burnt out. But answer both questions plez"
"Bro a lot. Too much for a text i can barely speak what i need to say"
"Okay sweet! there’s kind of a back story to it all to explain, as well as this being the first time I’ve gotten into this subject with anyone, so I’ll do that first if that's all good."
"idk. i just get sad randomly sometimes like my depression will just come and hit me out of nowhere when i'm feeling fine. and my doctor thought i might be bipolar but the psychologist said i wasn't so yeh. idk i'm just kinda weird lol"
"Soo, the other day I got into a really heated argument with my best friend's mom, because they kinda make my friend feel down. I went to confront her, but it turned into an argument. I said some things I'm not too proud of, and wrote her an apology note, but um. I still feel sick from what I said."
"I don't feel an intimate connection to anyone in my life and being in the general vicinity of people gives me extreme anxiety."
"yeah he's this guy i met thru my friends family. & we almost dated but then he ghosted me & i think he's still on & off w his ex. he plays w my feelings bc i saw him yesterday for the first time in over a month & he acted like we were still talking & everything & it was weird. so i'm not sure if o should move on or keep hoping he'll choose me"
"I listened to your most recent podcast about confidence, and I thought it was epic.🤙 I had a question that's related to it about something I've been dealing with recently. I already typed it up to explain the situation, and it is very long haha. Is that alright...?"
"No worries, monster texts are usually the best 😊 That is really helpful actually- I'm a visual learner, and that is a good image. Do you have any suggestions on how to get back to the inner circle? I get so caught up in the dregs I forget how to get out"
"I have a math test tomorrow and that's the only class holding me back from my 4.0 and if I don't do good I'll lose it"
"Quite a bit, a lot has changed for my recently, I told my parents about wanting to disassociate myself from their religion, and that's been just difficult because I'm trying to figure out what to believe, I recently gave up pornography as well, and it's been such a struggle without it, I've had an addiction to it for a few years now, so everyday life just seems much harder than usual, and as the end of the quarter nears my schoolwork is just ridiculous, so it's been quite hard to feel happy these past couple weeks"
"I’ll give that a try, I appreciate the words of advice, they’re quite comforting."