SOAR

Hey there! Glad you made it!

You may wonder, "What's this Next Step all about?"

Well...think about it this way...

We could be like a lot of people. Show up for an hour or two or text once in a while but not offer any real solutions for the challenges you're dealing with.

But let's face it, how likely are you to ask questions about things that are kind of embarrassing to bring up to someone you don't know that well or who hasn't been able to help you with the everyday stuff?

When you need help, like most of us, you probably need it now, which could be any hour of the day or night.

Most of the teens and young adults who come to us say they want real solutions to real problems - big problems. A lot of times they say they need help getting to the root of what's bugging them and causing them to do things or act in ways that they want to learn how to control.

We get that.

How much can you relate to what we're saying so far?

So how's The Next Step any different?

Well...The Next Step isn't a program. It's not a mentor you text or visit once a month. It's not a counseling session.

It's more like a friend who spends every day with you, gets you and knows just what to say or do to help you get to where you want to go with friends, dating, things that bother you from your past or make you nervous about your future.

They're there and they don't judge. They have solutions you may never have thought about.

Here's how it works. If you follow our navigational steps (navitents) and do what they recommend, then bit by bit and day by day, you'll start noticing that things are changing for the better.

If we've captured your attention, go to the next step to get a feel for it.

Let's start with a story.

Have you heard the tale about a baby eagle who grew up with chickens?

Well the story goes that the eaglet was found alone and placed in a chicken coop where it grew up thinking it was like the other birds it was around every day.

The young eagle never realized it was one of the most majestic birds to ever take to the sky.

In fact, it never flew. The bird was never given the chance.

This magnificent creature thought it was a chicken because all the other birds in the coop were chickens. So it bent its head to the ground, ate seeds and clucked like the others.

Can you relate to any part of this?

If that story sparked something inside of you, then you must not be a chicken.

You're an eagle.

How do you start to soar, though, if all you've known is a chicken coop?

It begins in your mind. Start by knowing who you are and believing it so much that you start pursuing things that lift you in that direction.

Try this. Describe a dream you have that challenges you to aim high. You would have to give it everything you have to achieve it.

Take a moment to imagine yourself having already accomplished your vision. To reach this milestone would make you feel like you're soaring.

Use your imagination to visualize the 'you' who has achieved something you thought was out of reach.

Select 'successful' when you have that image in your mind.

When you saw this new 'you' how did you feel about yourself?

So how do you make it real?

Try this. What specific action can you take now that will move you one - just one - step closer to that image of yourself?

You need to be realistic with this. Focus only on the first step for now.

Hint: Your first step should make you feel a little stretched but hopeful, knowing in your gut that you can do it if you work at it.

Of course, the fast track is to stay with these navitents and do them on a daily basis until the new you emerges.

Schedule 'Your Triumph' from jeremiahspromise.org. You'll see it listed as the tab, 'Your Next Step'.

Do the steps each day and post to the publisher (us!) in the last open box at the bottom of the page. All you have to say in the publisher's space is 'done'. We'll take it from there.

If you really want to soar, you could join a Campfire with teens and young adults much like you who are on the same journey.

As the story goes, "You can cluck with the chickens or soar like an eagle."

You're an eagle.

It's time...SOAR!!!