Imagine a stressful day that you have recently had. How did you handle that stress? Did
you go for a walk, talk to someone about it or did you give yourself a pep talk to get you through the situation? Stress is a common occurrence that everyone has to deal with in some way throughout their lives. Understanding how to manage it and proper ways to work through it are extremely important. Handling stress is just one small portion of learning how to have good mental health and wellbeing. This is even more important for teenagers. How they learn to handle their mental wellbeing can shape the way they deal with situations for the rest of their lives. That is why Teen Mental Wellness Day is so important to discuss and focus on for everyone.
Creating a positive mindset, working on resilience and encouraging healthy life habits are important to helping teens have good mental wellbeing. The constant onslaught of information that teenagers are exposed to today, make it very easy for teens to compare themselves to others. This can be very detrimental to their self-esteem. The unrealistic expectations that social media and influencers can have on teens is something that needs to be discussed. Teenagers can feel that they are not worth anything because they can’t compete or don’t have all the fame, money or materials that others do. While this can be due to what is shown on social media, it can also be comparing themselves to others in their classes or peer groups. Teaching them that each person has worth and is something unique and special is important.
Help teenagers find their strengths and work towards helping them hone those skills. Give them the boost they need to realize that they are needed and can help contribute. Being included and wanted are great feelings for anyone, especially for someone who doesn’t always have that. Having these positive experiences and groups can help to create a positive mindset for teens and this will help them realize their true worth and potential. This will not only help them feel better about themselves, it can also help them create resilience when life does get tough.
We all know life can and will be difficult at times. Having a positive mindset and knowing your worth can help you get through those times, as well as healthy habits. As stated above, stress can be a leading cause of the difficulty people experience. Learning ways of dealing with that stress is important. Exercising, eating healthy, healthy sleeping habits and knowing when to ask for help are all important habits and ways of helping deal with difficult life situations. Teaching teenagers these habits early and leading them by example are good ways to help them for the future. Healthy habits will make teens less likely to try to use bad habits to deal with stressful situations. Drug and alcohol use, fleeing and ignoring problems or criminal behavior can all be detrimental habits that teens pick up if not shown healthy habits. These detrimental habits can continue on into adulthood. Coping mechanisms and skills once learned, can be difficult for people to break or change even if they are detrimental for the individual. It is far easier to start a healthy habit, than it can be to break or change a detrimental one.
What can you do to help? Talking with teenagers you know about good habits and helping them focus on their strengths and positives in their lives is important. Understand that teenagers have a lot of stress going on in their lives, be the person they can talk with. If you are unsure about it or don’t feel comfortable, have some information for them such as counseling or suggestions of other people they can speak with. Be supportive of organizations that are working to help teenagers and focusing on mental wellbeing. You can be an example of what it is like to have a healthy mindset and positive self-esteem. Having positive mindsets not only helps each individual person, it also helps society as a whole. We all want happy healthy people and by talking with teenagers and being an example for them, we can help create positive self-esteem and healthy mindsets for everyone.
コメント