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With freedom comes responsibility.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
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The Progress
Editorial
May 25,2023
Congrats to PHS grads
dMbe ikljciol
High school is a different experience
for everyone. For some it’s a happy time
with friends and fun and extracurriculars.
For others it’s a serious academic en
deavor. And for others it’s no fun at all.
School is lonely, stressful, and possibly
filled with bullies or academic struggles.
Whatever group students fall into
there’s a common denominator - gradu
ating high school is an exuberant time for
just about everyone. It’s a threshold ex
perience that marks departure from child
hood into adulthood, and into a life of
autonomy and of making decisions for
yourself.
Graduates futures’ are a mixed bag,
though. Some people who didn’t thrive
in high school will go on to find their
happy place in a college setting and be
yond. Some will immediately start fami
lies and get a job. Others will go to trade
school. Others who had a good high
school experience will struggle after be
cause of bad decisions. Some who didn’t
have a good school experience will con
tinue to have a hard life.
As long as there’s been graduations
adults have imparted advice they wish
they would have taken themselves, or
suggested strategies they used that
worked. “Never give up,” “You are the
future,” “Reach for the sky,” are standard
grad-advice fare. It’s not that they’re not
not good things to tell students, but
they’re kind on par with “Live, Laugh,
Love,” watered down, overused, neither
very effective or memorable.
We tried to remember graduation ad
vice we received and came up pretty
blank. The only advice our reporter re
called was from her great-grandfather, a
professor and colonel in the Air Force.
“Don’t be relegated to the annals of
mediocrity.”
Very intense, just like you’d imagine
from a colonel, but she remembered it.
We also remember when Oprah inter
viewed Jim Carrey. He wasn’t specifi
cally giving graduation advice but we
like it. He told her before he was famous
he wrote a check for $ 10 million and put
it in his wallet because he wanted to
make $10 million one day — but just
dreaming it didn’t mean it would happen.
He had to work for it.
“You can’t visualize and go eat a sand
wich,” he said.
We recently saw a meme that ad
dressed how we can pick our “hard.” We
remembered that, too.
Being broke and in debt is hard. Being
financially disciplined is hard. Choose
your hard.
Taking risks are hard. Living with re
gret is hard. Choose your hard.
Being overweight is hard. Working out
is hard. Choose your hard.
Here are a few memorable pieces of
advice from notable people:
• “You don’t have to be fearless, just
don’t let the fear stop you”- Charlie Day
• “Learn to accept failure. Know that
things will go wrong. Then, when things
go right, you’ll probably feel like a fraud.
It’s normal.” - Neil Gaiman
• “Don’t be trapped by dogma —
which is living with the results of other
people’s thinking.” - Steve Jobs
And here’s some advice from us:
•Surround yourself with people you
admire and whom you think are better
and smarter than you. You learn from
them.
•Success isn’t all about money, but
being broke is not fun. Save money;
don’t live in excess of your means; don’t
let materialism rule your life.
•When you are unapologetically your
self it shows up in all kids of ways. Peo
ple are drawn to you. You’re more
respected. You make decisions easier.
You’re more relaxed and you have more
fun.
•Not all adults know what they’re
doing or should be emulated. It’s always
good to show respect, but it doesn’t mean
you have to take their advice.
•Negativity, gossip, and generally
being a jerk are not attractive qualities.
The “I hate stupid people” mentality does
not serve you.
•Get out of your comfort zone. The
worst that can happen is you’re told no
or it doesn’t go well. “No” isn’t the end
of the world.
Here’s wishing you all very bright fu
tures, grads. Big congratulations, from
the Progress!
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Senior Moments
Worry Warts
By Mary Migliaro
Senior Golden Girl
I’ll admit it.. .I’m a worry
wart. I seem to worry about
everything. And when I can’t
find something to worry
about, I worry about the fact
that I can’t find anything to
worry about! Why is that?
According to Psychology’
Today, when some future out
come is uncertain, we want to
make sure it turns out well.
Maybe it's missing a flight, or
getting sick, or losing some
one we care about. We don't
have ultimate control over
whether these things might
happen. When we have a
hard time living with this un
certainty, we might return to
the situation in our mind and
keep turning it over, imaging
every "what if' and how we
might handle it.
There are common beliefs
about worry that compel us
to keep doing it:
• If I worry, I'll never have
a bad surprise. Nobody
likes to be blindsided by bad
news, so we might worry to
preempt disappointment.
• It's safer if I worry. Our
beliefs about worry can have
a superstitious element be
cause we believe that the act
of worrying itself somehow
lowers the likelihood of a
dreaded outcome. We might
think that if we stop worry
ing, we'd be inviting trouble.
But if we constantly worry,
we never get to test out this
belief to see if it's true.
• Worrying motivates me.
It's not uncommon to believe
that if we stop worrying,
we'll become complacent or
unproductive. We need to dif
ferentiate between unproduc
tive worry and productive
concern and problem-solv
ing.
Let's be honest: It's really
hard to stop worrying, so it
helps to have multiple tools
to assist us with the process.
Here are some for your con
sideration.
Calm your nervous system.
When we're constantly wor
ried and on edge, our nervous
system is on high alert. Men
tal tension translates into
physical tension, which can
make us feel like we really
should worry because we're
feeling so physically agi
tated. It can help to have
ways to quiet our mind and
body and find a sense of ease.
Notice when you're worry
ing and any beliefs that re
inforce worry. We often
don't recognize what our
mind is up to. Awareness of
the process gives us more
choice in how we respond.
Embrace uncertainty. Most
of the things we care about in
life involve uncertainty. Be
yond simply tolerating uncer
tainty, we can embrace it as
an inherent part of living.
Live in the present. Training
in mindful awareness is often
a part of the treatment for ex
cessive worry (as in general
ized anxiety disorder).
Mindfulness emphasizes fo
cusing our mental energy on
the present, with openness
and acceptance—an attitude
that is helpful on many lev
els.
It takes practice to worry
less when we're in the habit
of worrying. Even when
we're determined to leave our
worries behind, our mind will
almost certainly return to
them. So, while we can't
eliminate all worries, we can
choose where we direct our
attention.
[Mary Migliaro. a Senior
Golden Girl, is a regular con
tributor to the Progress. She may
be reached at
marymigliaro@aol.eom.]
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.piekensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
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OTHER VOICES
Move beyond awareness to acceptance
with children’s mental health
By Melanie Dallas, CEO
Highland Rivers
Behavioral Health
If you were to search the
internet for Children’s Men
tal Health Awareness Week,
you would find a variety of
organizations - and dates,
usually in May. But regard
less of the dates, it is hearten
ing to see so many
organizations recognizing the
importance of children’s
mental health.
In 2022, one organization
- the National Federation of
Families (NFF) - added a
new perspective, one I be
lieve is especially important
to any discussion of mental
health and children. NFF de
clared the first full week of
May as Children’s Mental
Health Acceptance Week.
A statement on the organi
zation’s website notes be
cause the pandemic
challenged almost everyone’s
mental health, awareness in
creased significantly. But
now it’s time to move beyond
the term awareness. Accord
ing to NFF: “This significant
shift to ‘acceptance’ speaks
more directly to our goal - to
eliminate prejudice and dis
crimination that individuals
with a mental illness diagno
sis or symptoms experience.”
That is one of the best
statements I’ve read lately. If
there is anything those of us
in the mental health field
would like to see - through
compassion, knowledge and
understanding - it is exactly
that. Acceptance. And not
just mental health providers,
but more so, the millions of
Americans who experience
mental health challenges
every year, especially chil
dren.
The statistics about mental
illness in the population tell
the story - one in five people
will experience mental illness
in their lifetime, and half of
all lifetime cases of mental
illness begin by the age 14;
75% by age 24. So when
someone is going to experi
ence mental illness, it usually
begins when they are young,
often when they are children.
The pandemic not only
exacerbated mental health
problems for children who
were already struggling, but
put many more children at
risk - due to worry, disrup
tion, the death of a loved one,
and isolation.
Of course, it is sometimes
easy to miss that a child may
be struggling with mental
health issues - children grow
and change so fast, and so do
their thoughts and emotions.
Mental health struggles in
teens especially can be mis-
perceived as “going through
a phase” - of rebellion, being
non-social, or what might
seem as being overly sensi
tive or emotional.
Oftentimes it is just that, a
phase. But sometimes it is
not, and when a child is
struggling, it is important for
him or her to receive mental
health treatment, as hard as
that may be for a parent to ac
cept.
And that brings us back to
the most difficult but impor
tant part of mental health
challenges - acceptance.
Whether dealing with a child,
parent, friend, or even seeing
challenges within ourselves,
understanding that mental
health challenges are com
mon, that they can be treated
and people can recover, and
- perhaps most critical - that
seeking treatment is the first
step, will lead us closer to ac
ceptance.
I applaud the National
Federation of Families for
moving beyond awareness
and toward acceptance - and
I urge everyone reading this
to do the same. So I want to
let NFF have the last word
with one of the best perspec
tives on mental illness I’ve
seen:
Mental health exists on a
spectrum and almost every
one experiences challenges at
some point in their life. Rec
ognizing that our mental
health is just as important as
our physical health and ac
cepting individuals who
struggle for a period - or for
a lifetime - is critical to re
ducing the fear, worry,
blame, and shame that fami
lies and their loved ones ex
perience - and increases the
likelihood that those who are
in need will seek the support
and treatment they deserve.
[Melanie Dallas is a licensed
professional counselor and CEO
of Highland Rivers Behavioral
Health, which provides treat
ment and recovery’ services for
individuals with mental illness,
substance use disorders, and in
tellectual and developmental
disabilities in a 13-county region
of northwest Georgia.]
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
May
16
81
62
.63
May
17
75
61
.00
May
18
69
56
.00
May
19
72
59
.02
May
20
70
69
.50
May
21
77
63
.00
May
22
73
58
.13
Spot an error,
let our editor know.
dpool@
pickensprogress.com
706-253-2457
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