ShareThisJewel,I am the second-youngest of four sisters and no one pays attention to me.I'm 14 and my 11-year-old sister gets all the attention. My two older sisters do their own thing and never notice me.How can I let my family know that I'm here and I want people to listen to me?-- UNNOTICEDDear Unnoticed,As the eldest of three girls, I've dealt with my fair share of sibling issues.Desiring attention is a very basic human need. Please don't feel guilty about craving this from your family. Remorse should only come into play if you engage in negativity to gain attention. So, don't follow that route.It's time to unveil your feelings to your family. Especially, talk to your parent(s). Explain why you value them. Explain why you want to strengthen your relationships. Explain what's currently missing. Explain what you plan to do in return.Take it upon yourself to get to know your family, too. Show support by attending the sports games of your sisters. Help them out. Ask questions about their lives. Organize a weekly activity to do with your parent(s). Slowly build a connection.When you're ready, reveal things about yourself over these bonding activities. Share a story about school. Describe a life goal. Showcase your hidden artwork. Personally invite family members to your science exhibit. Photocopy your poems, and ask for feedback.It's also important to develop outside the family. Hit the books hard. Sharpen your extracurricular talents. Build strong friendships. Make a difference in your community. This way, you enhance your sense of identity.Life is about give and take. If you want people to take notice, you've got to pay attention, too. Ditto goes for listening.You can do this!-- Love, JewelHi Dave,This winter has certainly got me down. It has been cold and we haven't seen the sun much. I'm only 20 and I'm wondering if weather affects my mood at this age, what will it do when I get older?I'm looking for ways to cope to get through winter. When spring comes, I always feel great.-- BUMMED WITH WINTERDear BUMMED,It sounds like you love getting out in the sun and hate the graying skies (sounds normal to me) or you have a bout of seasonal affective disorder, a form of depression that follows a seasonal pattern. When winter hits, you feel down and cranky; when the sun peeks through during springtime, your mood brightens. Even though you're only 20, SAD can affect people in your demographic (although it rarely afflicts anyone in their teens).What can you do? A short vacation to a sunny locale could get you out of a funk. Also, light therapy can help the more serious cases: you sit in front of a special light board designed to shine light into your eyes once or twice a day, from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Or you can keep the curtains open often and exercise outdoors when you get a chance.Also, you can mentally reconfigure yourself. Try not to dwell on the snowfall or the bitter cold and instead find ways to have fun in the winter. Have a snowball fight. Go skating. Go tobogganing. Whatever you do, avoid the "woe is me" thought patterns that can spiral you even deeper into depression.Good luck!(Got a hot question for our cool columnists? E-mail Jewel or Dave at writeus(at)ypp.net or check them out on-line at http://www.ypp.net.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Needs some attention ... Got the winter blues
Submitted by SHNS on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 19:07
Paying taxes unites us. It also divides us. People can pay five and even six times more in state and local taxes than other folks in similar circumstances making similar incomes.
Who's got your number?
In one of the fastest-growing forms of identity theft, crooks are stealing tax refunds by swiping personal information and using it to trick the Internal Revenue Service.
