Supporting Our Valued Adolescents: A place to learn, share your strength, be positive, and grow.
If anyone is familiar with the college application process, you would know that this is an overwhelming time of year. I’ve found myself getting sick to my stomach just thinking about colleges. It feels like the most important decision of your life, when in reality it isn’t.
Instagram became a part of my life in middle school and continued to grow in importance throughout high school, following me into college. I spent years of my life thinking, “That would be a...
I’ve always felt a pit in my stomach on Sunday afternoons, but only within the last few years did I learn that this is common. In fact, the term “Sunday Scaries” is pretty popular amongst most of my friends. This term refers to the feeling of anxiety due to the upcoming work week (or school week). That same feeling of anxiety worsens substantially for me each year when August hits. I like to call this the “August Scaries.”
According to Calm Clinic, a mental health information site, travel anxiety varies greatly in causes and its impacts on people. In an article on travel anxiety, the website states that, “Many people have travel anxiety their entire lives. Others may develop the anxiety because of past experiences relating to travel which were anxiety provoking; and some seem to have travel anxiety for no apparent reason at all.”
I am in no way a business person, so when my close friends and family began to tell me that I should start selling my art, I felt less than capable to be able to sell my own products. To me, the idea of selling what I create provided anxiety about whether people would like it, whether they would think I was ridiculous, and whether people would actually buy things.
The idea of having technology in your watch seems like something out of a science fiction novel at first, with the screen popping up in the air in a bright neon blue or green. Even twenty years ago, a digital watch with a timer on it felt super futuristic.
Somewhere along the line you may have changed, you may of stopped being your true self. Maybe you let people stick a finger in your face and tell you that you’re wrong, that you need to change. That you aren’t strong enough, pretty enough, smart enough or even good enough. Even ridiculed you down to the last inch just to make them feel better about themselves.
I wrote the following short story (in the genre of magical realism!) about a girl who, like many of us here, struggles with anxiety throughout her everyday life.
It’s really easy to unintentionally hurt people’s feelings online. We may not even know we’re doing it, and it’s impossible to predict how people who follow us may respond, but everything online is going to cause some sort of reaction, no matter how big or small.
Let’s admit it. It’s so easy to get sucked into our devices and the social media apps inside of them. Even if you feel like you’re not directly interacting with anyone and just refreshing, there’s something about these apps that can make three hours feel like three minutes, despite doing nothing.
Recent Comments