The At Least Journal

“At least you have a heart!”

I decided to make the last general quote about the
heart because it is one of the most vital organs in the
human body. As a small fist shaped organ, it has a
very important job: pump a gallon of blood so every
body part would get a sufficient amount of blood and
oxygen per inhale and exhale. Sometimes we don’t
realize how important the heart is until someone you
know gets high/low blood pressure, a heart attack, or
something else that is detrimental for the heart. The
heart is more important than you probably think!
Let’s love that heart of ours!





Most people do not make any friends because they are afraid
to talk to people. Don’t worry, I struggle with the same
problem. I used to be extroverted, but as I got into middle
school, I realized that my only effort in making friends was
made in 3rd-4th grade. In 8th grade, struggling with talking to
people frustrated me and I vowed that I would be more “out
there” in high school. I guess that worked for me, but I don’t
recommend beating yourself up to that point. Try to find a
way to go out of your comfort zone and talk to people if you
are in dire need of finding a friend! It helps to say “hi”
occasionally, especially if you want to start a conversation!

There are billions of people in the world, and unless you
hate talking to people and want to isolate yourself as much
as possible, then there will definitely be a time in your life
where you can find a friend. As for now, the best thing to
do is to get yourself out there. If you work at a business,
talk to a co-worker. If you are at school, go say “hi” to
people as a starter. Maybe you can say hi to that girl that
always sits alone in the corner of the lunchroom! If you
don’t work or you always get lonely in your home when
the kids are at school, then try a hobby or go outside and
talk to others. Good luck on your quest to find a friend!

If you let go of a “bad friend” or a friend you
don’t like anymore, at least you got something
done! Your gut feelings usually tell you when you
feel that something is not right, so if your feelings
tell you when a friend of yours does not feel like
they are a friend, talk to your parents about them
and see what they think. If they agree with your
gut feelings, then at least you pulled that big
weight of stress and anxiety off your shoulders.

Losing a friend is hard, especially if they go to
the same school as you and you want to ignore
them as much as possible (or the other way
around). There’s always a possibility of finding
new friends! Your loss of one shouldn’t make
you feel so defeated that you don’t even want
to bother trying to find a new one. Your loss of
a friend should make you feel ready to go out
there and make new memories with new
friends!



These next four situations might be a little bit dark, so I will
try my best to not make it sad, so you won’t cry on this
book. Depending on how long their life was, at least they
were given a life to live! If they knew that they were going
to die sooner rather than later, and they lived their lives to
the fullest of their abilities, then at least they enjoyed
themselves before they died. As for you, at least that
person who died is in your memories. If you have children/
grandchildren/etc. in the future, tell them the stories
about your dead family member so their story/life is never
forgotten. I bet they’ll thank you for that.

Indirect losses are hard. Sometimes it doesn’t affect
you until the funeral. Other times it hurts if
someone mentions their name. For those who don’t
know what I mean when I say “Indirect losses”, I
mean teachers you had many years ago, your family
member’s best friend, your boss’s dog, etc. They are
losses that don’t affect you directly because they are
not people in your actual family, but it still hurts to
think that they have passed. No matter, who it is,
let’s be grateful that they lived their lives!

There are some things out there that you think
you probably don’t need until you lose it and go
mad looking for it. Don’t worry! Looking for
that lost item could help you if you always
wanted to clean your house (organize
everything and the item might pop out), or if
your family is with you, they can all look for it
and looking for the item could be a story your
family could laugh about in the future!

If your teen thinks they’re too old to go “Family
Trick or Treating” or your dad had to go on a
business trip on your birthday, or any tradition in
between, try to improvise and look for a way to
make a slightly improved tradition! Maybe you and
your spouse could dress up and go to a Halloween
party and text your teen if they want to join you!
Maybe you could call your dad so he can be in the
birthday party as well! Improvisation could help
you have the best new and improved traditions!



(This is for the people who studied for an assessment but are still
skeptical about if they are ready) The big moment before that huge
math test (for example) is always very stressful. If you need ways to
de-stress, then try specific quote #13. If you need some
motivation, hopefully this will help you! What is important to note as
you are slumping in your chair and trying to recite the quadratic
formula in your head for the 20th time is that you worked hard and
you studied! You can never do better than your best, but even if your
best is straight C’s, you can always bump up that grade! If you think I
am insane for saying “you can’t do better than your best” and then
saying, “You can bump up your C grade”, then this analogy might
help. Let’s say you are playing a video game and you get a score of
1584. Then you play the game again and your personal best rises to a
1673. Both numbers were your best at some point, but with enough
work, you can raise your grade and your high score to a new personal
best! Think of your test as a video game that you can never repeat
(unless you can retake the test); it’s important to persevere and play
that game until the game is finished. Don’t give up, and try your best
to get that victory! Hopefully you understand my analogy! Good luck
with that test! You got this!

From personal experience, I’ve presented in front of lots of
people. It is one of the most stressful things for me (a vibrant
thinker) to do. I like to present in my head at first, but being a
vibrant thinker means my thoughts run 20 miles a minute.
Even though at the end I think my presentation will be
wonderful, my thoughts translate to complete gibberish. A
way to prevent this is to calm down, do some breathing
exercises (or do jumping jacks, which seemed to help at my
French horn auditions, but I digress) and then start thinking of
what you are going to say. It probably helps to say everything
out loud, and be prepared for hard questions from the boss
if he wants to know if you truly know what you are talking
about (or your co-workers that want you to mess up; hopeful-
ly that doesn’t happen). Good luck on that meeting and
remember to breathe!

There are multiple reasons why people would change school.
The top 3 I can think of are because of parents changing jobs,
the parents want their kids to have a better education, or the
kids hated their old school and begged their parents to
transfer (or a combo of the 3). For the first one, it’s hard to
leave old friends from your old school, but you have been
given a chance to restart and make your mark on the new
school! For the second one, if you hate the school, just think
of how much your parents sacrificed for you to be in a school
with a better education than your previous one. For the third
one, depending on if you hate the school or not, be grateful
that your parents listened to you and let you leave your old
school to have a better life in the new one!

If you were transferred to a new job, or
you were fired from/you quit your old
job, be very grateful that you managed
to find a new job! Depending on the
salary difference, you can also be
grateful for the money you are paid!
Good luck in that new job and
remember to make your boss proud!



I picked the top 4 popular (in my opinion) negative
emotions and stress seems to be #1. Stress affects
everyone, from that girl whose friend threatens to not be
their friend anymore, to pulling an all-nighter because of
that test you didn’t study for, to that graph for the staff
meeting that won’t print, to that moment when it is
announced that you’re about to have your 5th baby,
everyone has to deal with stress at one point in their lives.
The best thing to do with stress is to de-stress! That might
be a “simple to say, hard to do” kind of thing, but let me
teach you something that has helped me deal with stress.
It is called the “Dance the Stress Away!” song. You can
dance to it if it is helpful for you. The song is, “Dance the
Stress Away! Dance the Stress Away! Move your Body,
Shake your Body, Dance the Stress Away!” Enjoy!

The 2nd emotion is presented to sadness
because in the 21st century, depression seems
to be a serious mental illness. I do not have
depression, but there are times when I get sad
as a result of the “crummy day effect”.
Whenever I get sad, I sometimes think of a
memory that makes me overly energetic (AKA
then times when my friends say hi to me)! That
always makes me happy; hopefully that will
make you happy too!

The 3rd emotion is anger, which usually stems off from
stress (see Specific Quote #13). Whenever you are angry, no
matter what the cause, try to find a way to calm yourself.
What I like to do is to think of what happened, my
perspective of it, and the cause of the anger’s perspective.
For example, if your friend called you stupid because you
laughed at her for getting a 45 on her test, then examine
your perspective (she called you stupid) and examine your
friend’s perspective (she worked so hard and pulled an
all-nighter, but she accidentally studied the wrong subject).
Perspectives and communication are the main reasons as to
why people get angry at others (for the most part). Examine
others’ perspectives if you are tired of being angry.

The 4th and last emotion is fear. Fear and
stress are two completely different things.
Sometimes fear comes from stress. Other
times it’s the other way around. If you
conquer one, then you can conquer the
other. Don’t let fear define you! A way to be
courageous is to pretend your fear is afraid
of you. Good luck and try to let your fear
turn into an abundant amount of courage!



I (currently, as a 10th grader) have
no experience of starting a family, so
I decided to ask an expert. My dad
successfully raised 2 kids with his
wife for years, and I have asked him
to write about the secrets of his
success in this book. I hope his
advice helps you if you are a young
family or you are a young person
looking to find a spouse and raise
kids!

“At least you can be patient to find a
date so you can find the right one
someday!”

I urge you to be patient, don’t go
seeking for love, rather keep doing
what makes you happy and in
turn LOVE will surely find his/her
way over to you. And let it GO,
cause if it is yours to keep, it will
surely come back. If it doesn't come
back, it was never meant for you
in the first place.

“At least you started your journey to
start a family!”

There are no manuals to life. Every
new beginning is a scary experience,
and how would you know if you are
good at it? The only way to find out
is by diving in. You would either
sink (and perish) or you swim and
enjoy the ride. The journey of a
thousand miles begins with just a
STEP.

“At least there are potential benefits
from having kids!”

Raising a child is a full time job with
unforeseen benefits. When you go to work,
you wake up daily, you give it your best
shot because of the financial benefits, and
you seek promotions. Always view raising
your kids as a job, since you are daily
being reviewed and the promotion you get
all depends on how successful the kids are
becoming on a daily basis. It’s a lot of hard
work with no immediate gratification but
the future benefits are immense.

“At least your relationship is a gift for
you to cherish!”

Sustaining a relation requires giving of your
time, effort, patience and endurance. Two people
from differing upbringing coming together to
form a whole new culture together requires
sacrifice, tolerance and patience, Don’t try
changing the other person because you cannot,
and don’t judge the other since you are no better.
Accepting each other makes for compatibility.
The best antidote is knowing the fact that it’s a
giving of your time and effort relationship while
expecting nothing in return. Whatever is given
to you is a gift for you to cherish (good or bad).



If this ends up being a library book, I beg
you to beg the librarians to either write
your own quote or for the librarians to
write quotes for those who check out this
book. If not, then I highly recommend you
to not just write quotes in this book, but
also to keep a journal full of your own “At
Least” quotes. As a 5-8 year old (I don’t
remember specifically when), I kept my
own “At Least” journal, which was what
inspired me to write this book (mostly
because I lost it and wanted to replace it)!
Have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Write your own “At Least Quotes” here!

Write your own “At Least Quotes” here!

Write your own “At Least Quotes” here!

Write your own “At Least Quotes” here!

Write your own “At Least Quotes” here!