SOAR!!!

Hey there! Glad you made it!

Are you wondering, "What's the Next Step all about?"

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

We could be like everyone else.

We could show up for an hour or two every month and give you advice to deal with your challenges. But let's face it, how likely are you to get the answers you were actually looking for last week?

When you're facing serious issues, you can't wait for the calendar to catch up. That isn't going to help you when and where you need help the most which could be any hour of the day or night.

Besides most of our teens and young adults say they want a relationship they can count on day in and day out. We agree!

But it has to be a relationship on their terms at this point, and we get that.

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

So how's The Next Step any different?

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

It's different. There's nothing else like it.

First of all, you get to be in the driver's seat.

The Next Step is like having your own personal GPS for some of life's biggest challenges. It's a way for you to be independent but still get the solutions you're looking for, and you learn how to build the relationships you'd like to have to head in the direction that's best for you.

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 starts in your mind. Begin by knowing who you are and believing it to the extent 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 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.

Go the the Related tab above and schedule 'Your Triumph'. It's a 21 day course.

Do the steps each day and post to the publisher (us!) in the last open box on 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 excel, you could join the Next Step USA Campsite with teens and young adults much like you who are on the same journey. Go to the Elements box above and click the link. You're in!

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

You're an eagle.

It's time...SOAR!!!