These past few years have taken a toll on us all, especially children; attending school via Zoom, mentoring younger siblings, separation from friends and extended family and teachers. Many felt alone, scared, anxious and fearful, but now that we’re turning the corner in the pandemic and things are moving in a better direction, there is still some adjustments to make for both children and adults. Here are some tips.

1) Gratitude: Be thankful, or grateful, for what we already have. How we feel is more important than the words. Express gratitude in the present tense; it’s a powerful tool for attracting new things into our life. We must feel good about where we are now to attract more into our life. Gratitude creates happiness. Gratitude can help us handle disappointments. Gratitude shifts our mood.

2) Self-Talk: The power of our own thoughts and words is critical for helping us build positive self-esteem and powerful self-confidence. There are two steps for shifting negative self-talk; first, we must notice it. That means to listen to what we are saying to ourselves and the thoughts we are thinking.

            Listen in the mirror when we are about to meet someone new or when we are about to do something that makes us nervous, like take a test or stand in front of the class. When we hear negative self-talk, stop it immediately and shift to power talk by using a “stopping phrase”.

3) Managing Change: Life is all about change. As kids, we change grade levels, teachers and classmates every year. Some changes are small, such as learning a new subject or having a new textbook, while others are huge, such as changing schools or dealing with divorced parents. Some kids love change while others not so much. How we respond is often based on whether we wanted the change or whether we think the change is “good” or “bad”.

            Change often pushes us outside of our comfort zone, and when that happens, the dragons of negative self-talk will come. The only way to slay the dragons is to face them head on and step into the change. Every time we slay the dragons, it builds self-confidence. The truth is that we get to choose how we want to respond to change, even if it is something we didn’t want. The three steps to managing change are to list and manage concerns; list benefits and positive impacts; and visualize embracing the change.

Sharon Kay Baran, a certified life coach for kids, offers a free, 30-minute consultation. For more information, call 734-636-6737 or email [email protected].