How can I make myself go to school?
Think hard about your problems with getting to school and also any good points you can think of and write them down in two lists side-by-side. Not going to school can mean missing out on some good stuff. For instance, just mixing with other people, whether friends, teachers, or others, means you learn how to get on with others and how to recognise other people’s feelings and emotions. The give and take of daily talk with your classmates has an important part to play in helping you develop your own take on life and learning to argue logically for your point of view, as well as listen thoughtfully to others. It is also important in learning how to get on with people. Another important positive benefit in going to school is that physical exercise is normally included. Now not everyone agrees in that being positive! But exercise helps you learn, as well as teaches you co-operation with others and helps keep you fit and healthy. While you could find other ways of improving your skills, knowledge and health apart from going to school, it means making a deliberate effort to find ways of doing this, whereas in school, the opportunities are all there, almost without having to think about them. Of course, the downside of school can be having to attend lessons you don’t like, find out about subjects you don’t understand and even mix with people you don’t like.
You now have two lists, one of good points, one of bad points about going to school. Which list is the longer? The plus points or the minus points? If there are more minus points about going to school than there are plus points, then it is no wonder you are finding it difficult to motivate yourself to attend. Can you change some of those minus points into plus points? If you can make the plus list longer than the minus list, you will be more likely to WANT to go to school.
Changing minus points into positive ones is not as easy as it may sound. Change can be hard because it means taking action now, for the promise of something good in the future. That’s not always easy to do or to keep up but it is very worthwhile. Taking action means deciding on a goal and starting to work towards it. Decide on a goal to work towards. This must be a measurable goal, something you can say you either did or did not reach. For instance, if you just want to turn up at school more often, or attend all the classes in a day, you make that your goal. But make some kind of way of measuring it, or you won’t know if you have got there. If you have only been going to school 3 days a week, you might want to make your goal 4 or more days a week. You can count that! On the other hand, you may want to set a goal for the marks you want to get in a test or exam, or for actually completing and putting in homework or set work.
Just like in a game of football, if you want to score a goal, you have to keep going for it. Not achieving your goal right away doesn’t matter. If you fall, pick yourself up and jump straight back in.
Make sure your goal is possible. There’s no point in setting a goal that you know you will never reach. Some people suggest aiming for the stars and then at least you might reach the moon, but that is really setting yourself up for failure. Aim for a goal you know you can reach but not one that’s easy – make sure it is a challenge. Now divide your goal up into steps. If you think of it as a journey, you might say that it will take you a month to reach your goal, so what do you have to do each week to reach that and then what step must you take each day to make your weekly goal? For some people, a really big goal might be to run a marathon and to just consider running one might seem impossible at present. But by breaking it up into small manageable goals, such as running 500 metres or one kilometre and improving from there, you can eventually reach the goal. Maybe your goal is to improve your study skills or your exam marks. You might set a goal of learning one new study skill a week and spending 10 minutes a day using that skill. It doesn’t seem like a whole lot of time, does it? But it will make a noticeable difference very quickly. If you want to make more friends or learn better social skills, you could join a club or take up a sport or activity and take part. Alternatively, you volunteer with a charity or some organisation that needs help.
Set yourself some big goals, break these up into smaller steps and measure and mark your progress. You’ll soon find plenty to celebrate as you achieve what you want to do.