Durban — Inspiring matric exam hopefuls is a task Dr Sanele Gamede takes very seriously with his annual campaign #matricungazibulali (matric, do not commit suicide). He hopes to counter self-harm if a pupil does not get the expected results.
Recently the youth life and career coach and UJ Communications and Media Studies lecturer published his fifth book, Hundred Mental Direct Deposits, which aims to guide people with tips for mental wellness and success.
Gamede said the book was about a mental shift in transforming the mind and safeguarding what goes into the mind. He also said it was targeted at everyone who wanted to achieve a specific goal, and could be read by matric hopefuls as they await their results.
“Your dreams are meaningless if you do not have a vision on how you plan to achieve them. You could also have target time frames to complete each goal. There also has to be a plan of action that has a specific budget for that goal. If you do not have goals, the dreams are just dreams without a vision,” he said.
The author, who has often encouraged matric hopefuls with his life story and how he failed grades 10 and 11 twice each, said they should use a vision board as a road map to the rest of their academic journey to reduce stress.
Gamede said while matric hopefuls were waiting for their results, they could use the time to prepare their minds for what lay ahead.
“We have scheduled to visit schools, community halls ... and media campaigns to engage them on how to deal with anxiety and failure.
“Part of our campaign was to deal with the ‘pens down’ culture that sees many matric hopefuls lose their lives by abusing alcohol and drugs ... Some end up contracting sexually transmitted diseases or losing their lives in car crashes. We want to encourage them to celebrate responsibly as their whole lives lie ahead of them,” said Gamede.
The book is available at https://sanelegamede.com/hundred
Sunday Tribune