Tag Archive for: connection

Find Your Game; Find Your Passion!

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By Krissy Melhiser, MSW, LCSW – August 15, 2024 –

If you are anything like me, you have been glued to your television over the past couple of weeks watching the 33rd Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. Growing up I dreamed of one day standing atop the podium with a gold medal around my neck. Even though that did not become my reality, that dream has led to great passion and enthusiasm for the Olympic Games.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games helped create a space to contemplate what I find so special about this time every four years. I heard the stories of the athletes’ hard work, their sacrifice, what that one moment of competition meant for them, and what it means to be part of a team. What I have come to admire is what we all need — belonging, connection, and finding passion for your life. As a school social worker, I know these are key attributes for young people to build.

Belonging is being a part of something bigger than yourself; that feeling can be a fuel to keep us going when things are tough and can often lead to the greatest moments of our lives. Help your child find ways to belong: sports, clubs, church groups, girl/boy scouts, summer camps, technology classes/clubs…these are a few ways to connect with others and help your child grow a sense of belonging.

Cultivating connection is essential. Athletes don’t make it to the top of their game without connection with others, including emotional and mental support, nutritional guidance, coaching, training, and medical assistance. It takes a team of people along with their talent and discipline to rise to this level. Encourage children to foster and purposefully create spaces in their life that cultivate connection and seek support.

How do you find what you’re passionate about? I think part of it is exposure to elements of life. Whether it’s going to an art museum, attending a professional sporting event, helping with a community service project, or reading an autobiography, seeing life through a different lens can spark a passion that can lead to your life’s work.

I have heard many athletes talk about seeing the Olympics for the first time, envisioning themselves as one of the athletes, and then, just like magic, there is the spark. That one defining moment changed the rest of their life! They dreamed the impossible dream and their journey began. Until the 34th Summer Olympic Games, I leave you with this: go find your “Olympic Game,” your belonging, your connection, and ultimately, your passion, and help your child find it too.

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Create a Sense of Purpose for Youth

By Wendy Lynch, MSW, Courier & Press, August 1, 2017 –

After a busy day helping kids as a school social worker, I often come home from work feeling the need to decompress.  Many days I find myself trying to process the daily struggles of my students.

My husband and I regularly discuss what it means to help a child in need.  How can I serve all the kids I meet with effectively?

There are many directions this conversation can go, but one concept we often discuss is the necessity for  youth  to feel a part of something — a need for connection, a sense of belonging  or perhaps best said, a sense of purpose.

Research shows that teens and young adults that seek purpose have higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness.  While recognizing these needs is important, the more challenging component is to how best connect  youth  to this sense of purpose.

When I recently listened to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg give an eloquent commencement speech to Harvard University graduates, I was impassioned by his message of “purpose,” because it was so reflective of many of my interactions with the kids I serve through  Youth  First.  Mr. Zuckerberg’s thesis was that “finding your purpose isn’t enough; the challenge is to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.”  (You can find Zuckerberg’s speech on You Tube.)

 With this in mind, I often find my conversations with distressed  youth  gravitating toward  the things in life they care about — people, ideas, and dreams — and how I can best point them toward  these  connections.  So how might one do this?  Zuckerberg offers three concepts that can help you lead your child towards a sense of connection, belonging and purpose:

  1. Encourage participation in something bigger than yourself.  Examples include community service, sports, drama, music  or clubs.
  2. Try to create the feeling or environment where the child is needed.
  3. Help facilitate an environment, attitudes  and goals where there is always something better ahead to work towards.

In my experience, I believe it is productive to help your child see a bright future and focus on what is to come rather than what is in the past.  According to William Damon, author of “The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life,” benefits can include living longer and healthier; valuing humility, gratitude and integrity; being more academically engaged; being more pro-socially oriented and engaged; being interested in how their actions affect others  and more.

The teen years are a time to explore one’s inner and outer world and seek new experiences.  Hopefully, these experiences will also create time for self-reflection so that teens can discover what gives their life purpose and meaning – what makes them feel alive.  Parents can set an example for their teen by modeling a sense of purpose in their own lives.

Guide your teen toward finding their purpose in life.  Help them break down their purpose into achievable goals and take action to support them until they’ve achieved their goals.  Pride in what they accomplish and service to others can build a capacity for a greater purpose that endures into their life well beyond the teen years.

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