Modderdam High School’s matrics heard from life coaches last Friday about how to overcome fear and anxiety and get the most out of their lives.
The school arranged with The Online Coaches Hub, a life-coaching company, to give the free presentation, offering the pupils some insights into how to cope with life after school.
The matrics completed a survey ahead of the presentation to let the coaches know what they wanted to know more about.
Life coach Rygana Samuels counselled the pupils to make careers out of their passions. It was important to have a purpose in life and serve family, themselves and their community, she said.
“Find your purpose. It might be through life events, through role models, through healthy relationships, through obstacles, but find what you want to do and do it.”
Pupils should learn from whatever hurdles they faced. “Life will hit you sometimes hard, but you have to have the confidence to get up,” she said.
Success, she said, could mean different things to different people. “You will only get where you want to be with the right mindset. Ask yourself what your goals are; what does success mean to you. There’s no specific definition for it. Some people think that buying a house, a car, getting that degree is a success; others think that just making it to the shelter at night is a success.”
Life coach Firdaus Noordien said that you could either forget about a bad experience and run, or face it and rise. She used a class oral as an example.
“You can stay home for the day, be scared and consumed with anxiety or face it and rise up. Flip the script and deal with it. Speak to an adult that you trust if something is bothering you. Remember fear and anxiety is seeing the worst of what can happen before the actual event. Face it head-on, step up,” she said.
The matrics asked about love, and Ms Noordien said love was not about how you felt about the next person but rather about how that person made you feel about yourself. Love was someone who made you feel good about yourself; not someone who degraded you.
“Set boundaries for yourself, and if the person respects that, it is love. Use your values to establish the boundaries you want. That can include safety – is the person taking you to safe or unsafe places? Do they make you feel safe or unsafe? Boundaries can be respect and kindness. Do they mock you, make you feel bad about your appearance or accept you?”
The matrics were asked to close their eyes, imagining they only had ten minutes left on earth, and picture what success meant to them post-matric and what they’d be doing
Deputy principal Bernita Camphor, said many of the matrics had faced traumatic experiences.
“Pupils must know how to address challenges in their lives in a healthy positive way,” she said. “Many of them go home hungry – they are going through tough times at home. Hopefully this helps them now and post-matric as well to make the right decisions for their futures.”
Matric Tre Peters, 17, said he had been robbed at gunpoint some time ago but had got through it with the help of his family and friends.
“It was good to hear that everyone has a purpose,” he said. “We must just find it and follow it.”
Fellow matric Jade Petersen, 17, said: “Many pupils are going through trauma, so it is hard to see their futures. They don’t know how to get past it. Now they know how to deal with it and move on.”