The Young Leader

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5 Amazing Things Teens Can Do To Jump Out Of Their Comfort Zone

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There’s a famous quote by Neale Donald Walsch that every teen should pay attention to. He says, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” and let me tell you, he is so right. When you’re in middle school, high school, and even college, it can be really easy to get comfortable with life, especially if life is going well.

But, you should never get too comfortable, because there is a whole world of people, places, and new experiences that you’ll miss out on if you don’t jump out of that comfort zone. Here are seven amazing ways teens can do just that!

1. Start a Blog

It’s no secret that teens are super opinionated. Sometimes that’s good, and sometimes it can get you into trouble, but either way, sharing your thoughts is great because if you’re thinking or feeling something, I can guarantee that there are others out there who feel the same way or have had similar experiences. Starting a blog is a great way to foster an online community, and connect with people around the world who you otherwise may never have met.

2. Play a New Sport

Maybe you already play sports, which means you have your go-to sport that you’re really good at. But there are lots of other sports out there, and learning a new sport is super fun and it’s great exercise too. Sure, it can be embarrassing at first when you have no clue what the heck you’re doing, but fear of “not being good at something” should never stop you from trying.

3. Take a Fun Class

When it comes to elective classes, the trend is to take whatever classes your besties are taking so that you can all be together. But you see your friends all the time, so why not take a class that you normally wouldn’t—like cooking, woodshop, or painting? It’s a great way to get out of your comfort zone because it forces you to start from scratch. Your friends aren’t in class with you, and you’re not familiar with the subject matter, so chances are you’ll make new friends, and you might even discover a new passion!

4. Travel

Traveling is one of, if not the absolute best ways to get out of your comfort zone because when you leave home base and visit an unfamiliar place, everything is new. New surroundings, new culture, new people, and maybe even a new language if you’re traveling abroad. Whether you’re traveling with family, friends, or a study abroad program, the experiences you gain on your trip will change your outlook on life and they’ll resonate with you long after you return home.

5. Volunteer

Volunteering is also a really awesome way to get out of your comfort zone while also dedicating your time to helping others. No matter where you live, there are surely a ton of volunteer opportunities nearby. You could give some of your time to tutoring elementary school kids, coaching a sports team for underprivileged kids, helping the local homeless community, and much more. Seriously, the possibilities are endless. Some teens even choose to volunteer abroad in order to help those in developing countries such as Ghana, Costa Rica, and India.

What advice would YOU give to other teens who are looking to jump out of their comfort zone? We’d love to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Step Outside Yourself – 5 Quotes for an Inspiring Adventurer

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“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu

What’s your favorite meme, that quote, that sentiment, that thing you see posted by one of your friends on Facebook that makes you laugh out loud in the middle of Starbucks or share to a million people not even caring if you get a “Like” because you know it’s that good? Here are five of our favorite, get-off-your-cupcake-and-get-moving quotes that reach us in that same place—we laugh out loud, we sigh, we nod our heads, we get inspired, we step outside ourselves…

1. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” Augustine of Hippo

Who said travel had to be a sweat? Don’t let one more day go by without considering where you would be without your favorite books of adventures lived and tales told. The greatest stories of our lives are written on the pages of our imaginations. Go on then…Imagine!

2. “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” Anita Desai

If you want to know what it truly means to lose yourself, take a trip as a volunteer. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes and plant a seed in their garden. You will not only leave with a new vision of the world, you will arrive with a new vision of yourself.

3. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust

If you never leave the comfort of your own home and community, you will never know what drives the machine we call this planet. Find out who your neighbors are over there in the hills and valleys of a China day or down there in South America or the Caribbean where the sea is the color only an artist could paint. Get to know new people in their own back yard and come away with glasses that make what was plain and dull, high def.

4.“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” Gustave Flaubert

If you want to lend a helping hand in places where help is scarce, consider studying abroad as a volunteer. This is a big world and your travel time could mean more than just a stamp in your passport. Make a difference starting with one step, one trip, one life.

5. “To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.” Hans Christian Anderson

You’ve got to give a little. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen what giving can do far from home and your circle of friends. Make new acquaintances, and new friends, in a world you could not have imagined if you didn’t leave your doorstep.

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Five Places Every Teen Should Travel To

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Have you ever wondered what life is like anywhere else but where you are? You’ve lived in the same house and grown up with the same people all your life. Days all look the same and nothing seems new…or exciting. You are looking forward to college just to get Out of Here. Good thing this planet has so many pockets of adventure and places of unforgettable potential. Where will you start and how will you get there? Here are some ideas for your next life trek with the added awesomeness of helping others:

1. Costa Rica

Costa Rica may seem like a far-off jungle of adventure, but it really is (and feels) as close as your backyard. A rich landscape of rain forests, coffee and banana plantations, butterfly fields, waterfalls, and bet-you-never-thought-you’d-do-this opportunities, it is the perfect spot to get involved with friendly locals who love where they live and who they are and need your help.

2. Peru

Did you ever daydream in history class and wonder how roads were made or who laid the stones of the first paths to wind through mountains and uncharted territory? What if you could still walk them today to find at the end one of the oldest surviving examples of an ancient way of life? Score some points for your next history project! Get your pack on and walk the road of the Incas, a trip that will take you back in time and make you marvel at the ability of people to survive anything, anywhere, while helping a local village plant a garden that will feed them for a lifetime, just like the old days.

3. Tanzania

You can hear the rumbling footsteps of one of nature’s most loveable animals in the distance. You may even feel a little like young Indiana Jones sitting in an open-air Jeep stalking packs of elephants and antelope, looking for hidden mud puddles of bathing hippos and undiscovered secrets your friends back at home won’t believe. You couldn’t be farther from the four walls of your room and all your unfinished homework, and Africa will live on with you in every tale you tell and paper you write long after the adventure is over. The real A+ will come from the locals whose school you helped build.

4. Bali

It’s hot. And humid. Even the air here smells different. Some call it the “Island of the Gods.” Rising before you are the greenest mountain peaks you have ever seen. Go ahead. Climb them. That ocean will make you want to invent a word to describe it. You can dive its turquoise waters or surf its southern tip to find out for yourself what makes this tropical paradise and its people so unforgettable. But before you head home, you will be welcomed by the local people whose classrooms you helped construct and see Bali friends and family as only an insider can.

5. China

Whether you are walking the Beijing streets riddled with artisans’ stands selling things you’ve never even seen before, or taking a ride down a winding country road that leads to the village where you can help children learn; whether you yourself are the student and are learning the fine art of Chinese cooking or calligraphy; you take will home with you more than you would have gotten out of your social studies video during 4th period. It’s a lifetime packed into one never-to-be-forgotten trip.

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Why Teens Love Instagram – a Manifesto to Parents Who Don’t Get It

Ever wonder why teens are on Instagram like all the time?

Rather than only listening to what advertisers want to scare you into believing (such as in the article above), perhaps you had the slightest hunch that there’s more to this story…

Chances are that you might be a parent who—despite your best efforts—just doesn’t understand Instagram. In which case you’ve come to the right place!

If you’re a teen that wants to convince your parents that Instagram’s awesome (or at least to stop rolling their eyes), then you’re also in for an edumacational treat!

We’ll start with the most basic question to get everyone up to speed.

 

What is Instagram?

Instagram is a smartphone application that shares pictures and short videos. You can enhance your media, through various filters, and then post it.

It’s motto is Capture and Share the World’s Moments.

If you’re really old school, it’s like scrapbooking with your phone. For those of you more familiar with social media, the following comparisons might help:

Instagram is like Twitter where you accumulate followers and have short posts but with more of a visual focus. Much like Facebook, you get notifications about your friends’ activities and can “like” or comment on whatever they post.

For example, this sunset took me less than a minute to post on Instagram.

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Why teens (and everyone else) love it

The following three features make Instagram especially attractive:

  1. Simple
  2. Free
  3. Beautiful.

These days, nearly everyone and their grandma has a smartphone. It’s also not hard to see that a lot more people carry their phones around instead of a camera. That’s what makes it special—you can easily capture and then share irreplaceable moments with your friends.

These can be funny, cute, avant garde, and often breathtaking.

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For teens specifically, these can include incredible travel and volunteer moments.

@glateens

There’s more to these posts than just beauty or novelty—Instagram is a media blog that connects people with similar values and interests.

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Many young people also use Instagram to challenge stereotypes, such as Paola Mathé’s pictures, which got featured in this Huffington Post article:

Young People Use Gorgeous Instagram Pics To Show There’s More To Haiti Than Poverty.

Like any social platform, there are positive ways to use it, and there are times when it’s only a distraction. Now that you know, try not to get addicted yourself!

Contributed by Nick Fochtman

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7 Games You Can Use to Engage with Children on a Volunteer Abroad Program

 

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Do you love to work with kids and volunteer, but are not exactly sure what to do to keep them entertained? Well, problem solved! Here are seven ways to engage with kids while you are on a volunteer program abroad (or even while you’re watching all your little cousins over the holidays):

1) Relay Races

Split the kids up into different lines and have them do various activities back and forth across a space, such as running, hopping, skipping, crab walk, etc. This teaches them to work as a team and encourage one another. Make sure they clap and cheer; the louder, the better!

2) Simon Says

One person is “Simon” and gives an instruction while the other kids do that action; if the person does not say “Simon says…”, the action does not count. This game teaches kids to listen more effectively and to pay attention to details. Plus, if you let the kids take turns being “Simon,” they will learn to think creatively and lead.

3) Sharks and Minnows

One person is the shark and the rest of the kids are the minnows. The shark stands in the middle of a space and tries to catch all the minnows as they run across the room; if a minnow is tagged, it too becomes a shark until the game is over. This game can help build teamwork because, as more kids become “sharks,” they will learn that they will have to cooperate with and help each other in order to catch all the minnows.

4) Capture the Flag

Divide the kids into two teams and give each team an object to use as their “flag.” After they hide their flag, the teams then have to work together to find the other team’s flag and capture it without getting tagged. This game really emphasizes teamwork, and it also can teach kids about strategy as they think about how to work together to “capture the flag.”

5) Blocker Ball or “Gaga Ball”

If you have a couple of dodge balls or playground balls on hand, divide the kids into two teams and give each team a ball. The game is then like dodge ball, except you can only hit a person from the waist or below to get them “out,” and the teams can go on either side; there is no dividing line. Again, this game teaches kids about cooperation because they will have to toss the balls to each other and work together to defeat the opposite team. It’s a fun, fast-paced game that kids love, and it’s less painful than dodge ball, which is a plus.

6) Ninja

If you have older kids, this is a fun game. Have the children stand in a circle. The goal is to tag the two people on either side of you by tagging their hand. However, you can only do it one move at a time. So each person goes around taking turns making their one “ninja” move and trying to slap the other person’s hand, and if their hand is tagged, they are out. This game can help develop motor skills and teach kids to think and react quickly.

7) What Time is It, Mr. Wolf?

Have one child be the wolf and stand behind a line facing away from the other kids. Have the other kids stand at a starting point and ask “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?” Depending on the wolf’s answer, the kids will take that number of steps forward (i.e. if the wolf says it is 5:00, the kids will take five steps). If however, the wolf says it is “lunch time,” the wolf will turn around and try to tag all the kids until they either make it across the wolf’s line or make it back to the starting point. This game teaches kids to listen to directions, and if you let each of the kids be the “wolf” throughout the game, it also can teach kids to take turns and be patient.

Trust me, both you and the kids will have a blast playing these simple and fun games. Make sure you check out all the cool volunteer programs that Global Leadership Adventures has to offer, and if you have any other fun game ideas to play with kids while you are abroad or at home, tell us below! We’d love to hear your suggestions.

Contributed by Addie Davis

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