These should be carefree times for our young, school is out for summer, exams are over and it’s finally a chance to draw breath and relax. I can remember my mother saying that schooldays were the best days of my life and I hoped against hope that it wasn’t true. Even all those years ago the pressures of exams and trying to fit in socially was a very real issue but any challenges I faced back then, in the last century, pale into insignificance when measured by todays standards. There has never been a time like the present for our young people, in addition to school and exam pressure, they find themselves trying to live up to idealised social media images and that feeling that everyone else is having a lovely time and living a charmed life, except for them.
In reality, the teenage years have always been difficult, and every young person experiences stress in some form. After all, adolescence is a transitional time with physical, emotional, social and personality changes that can feel scary and al at a stage when ties are loosening and the focus is beginning to shift from the familiar support of family and siblings towards spending more time with peers and friends as well as the ever present influence of social media telling them how they should look and feel.
No matter how grounded and sensible our young people are, all of these changes can create turmoil as they may experience fear of failure, poor body image or difficult relationships with their peers all contributing to the stress they experience on a regular basis, and all of this at a time when they are trying to work out where they fit into the world.
This may all sound quite scary and young people often forget how strong they are and all the challenges they have faced and overcome in the past. In the midst of what can feel like turbulent times we can work with them to help shift their focus onto what the future holds and remind them that we are there for them and happy to play a supporting rather than a central role in their lives. Crucially, we can also remind them that all the fun and frolics they see on social media is never the whole story. As someone wise once said, we should never judge our insides by other people’s outsides and above all, we can remind ourselves and them that absolutely everything passes and this will too.
Don’t Agonise, Orrganise!