My English Blog

Yesterday I watched Ellen Degeneres' stand-up. She did not only crack jokes, as she usually does, but she also raised many important issues, including difficulties which she had to meet with after coming out. On the one hand, I felt terribly sorry for her because of struggling and hatred she had to stand. On the other hand, I admired her because coming out was a very brave decision. Ellen's speech made me think of the significance of the people's line to the LGBT community. Homophobia is a very common problem and a serious danger. It often comes from fear or misunderstanding. The prejudice against gay people can lead to a huge decrease in the gay people's self-esteem of or even to a self-loathing. The truth is that everyone has a right to happiness and love and nobody can criticize or insult someone because of his orientation.  

Yesterday I was coming back home after the football training. I felt happy and satisfied, even though I was totally exhausted. I realized that no matter how tired I am I will always be fulfilled because I do what I love. These thoughts made me aware of the huge role of a hobby in our lives. Firstly, it enriches your life. A hobby makes you a more interesting and sociable person. It is a great way to meet new people who have similar interests. Additionally, due to having a hobby, your self-esteem and confidence increase a lot. Every activity in which you are good at is a good reason to build your belief in yourself. Secondly, having a hobby can influence your health. It relieves stress which consequently protects you from many illnesses and feeling overwhelmed. A hobby enables to recharge batteries and makes you ready for work. I consider my hobby a part and parcel of my life and I cannot imagine living without football, so I recommend everyone to find this interest and enjoy it!

January is a month of New Year resolutions. It is a time when gyms are crowded and drugs developed to help people to give up smoking are more common than ever. However many people refuse to make changes because of a sense that they will fail. It made me think whether we should consider New Year resolutions as a work motivation and a chance of changing something in your life that is not going well or as a risk of cracking because of failing to fulfil them. On the one hand, every promise you make to yourself is an obligation that not only provides us to improve our quality of living but it also leads us to do more self-reflection. On the other hand, it is sometimes hard to follow resolutions. Consequently, we may feel disappointed and inadequate. I think that unless you set irrational goals, there is no reason not to make your life better!

Yesterday I was scrolling through facebook when I found out something that I have never paid attention to. I noticed that people tend to share with others only positive aspects of their life. They post photos from holidays, meetings or parties presenting their life as a perfect living. It occurred to me that people create in social media an ideal self-image which is often a fake one. Due to the fact that anyone can see our profile on the web, people want to impress others, no matter if they know them or if they are strangers. That is why they try to idealise their persona. It made me realize that we should be careful while using social media because there is a really thin line between sharing moments from life and pretending someone who we are not.

Last time I had to make a really tough decision. The problem was that there was no good solution. After two weeks being in two minds, I resolved to follow a path which I considered the best possible option. The point is that now I can say that I am not sure with the accuracy of my decision. This is a common situation when we often regret our choices or at least we fell less satisfied than we would be after choosing a different option. But should we blame ourselves for making 'bad' decisions? Of course no. At first, we should start thinking about making mistakes as learning opportunities. After one bad choice, we will not make it again. Moreover, if we make a bad decision, we have to forgive ourselves. No one makes only good choices because being wrong is a natural thing. So if you will make a bad decision, do not regret it, just forget and draw a conclusion for the next time.

Parents have almost always been authority figures for their children. These days more and more celebrities replace mothers and fathers and become a role model for young people. Seeing as how they have an influence on youths lives they try to use it. When I saw on a social media how celebrities promote toons of things that they probably haven't even tried, it made me aware of how stars manipulate us, often in a tricky way. As long as advertisements on TV have a clear message, a paid-up person tries to convince fans to buy a relevant product by wearing brands clothes or just presenting a product and pitching it. It is a new way for business but an unfair one because stars use their fame to persuade us to buy a product. Consequently, they make more money. Of course, not every celebrity is taking part in it but, unfortunately, more and more famous people follow this path. 

School is a part and parcel of youths everyday life, where students have to struggle with tests and exams, day after day. From my observations, it goes practically always with daily stress. When I saw my friend trembling of fear because of a short test, I realized how badly can school pressure influence our lives and also our health.  Upcoming tests, too much homework and the amount of studying required can cause "killing" stress and can result in a lack of sleep. Consequently, it leads to poor results at school, but more importantly, it affects our 'body clock'. As we already know, stress is not a good adviser, so we should avoid it. First of all, we should learn for ourselves, not for grades or reputation. It is also important to find the most effective way to study and to manage time for studying wisely. The final advise - find at least one hour each day to relax!