Teens and Adults Struggle with the Same Things
Have you ever watched a teenager from afar and wonder what is
going on with him/her but you just couldn’t put your finger on it?
It seems like there are more and more teenagers who are depressed,
feeling irritable, acting out or feeling like they don’t fit in for one reason or another.
Have you ever felt like that when you were a teenager? I know many adults who have felt like
that when they were teens, for some it was a long time ago that they were teens but are still
feeling the effects of those awkward teenage years in their adult life today.
Many seem to think that this generation of teens is very different from when we adults were
teens back in the 70’s or 80’s (or maybe even the 60’s). But, are they really? I really don’t think
they are very different when it comes to the basic needs that we all have when we come into this
world. We all want to be nurtured, loved, admired by our parents, encouraged, not to mention
clothed and fed (that’s important too). And because our parents aren’t perfect and don’t always
fulfill all of our needs because they are only doing the best that they know how, we then may start
to have feelings of worthlessness or feelings of not being loved and that’s where the beginnings
of depression, irritability or acting out may start to show its ugly self.
I can still remember when I was in elementary, middle and high school and some of the kids who
were acting out by giving the teacher a hard time, others walked around like life was all doom and
gloom. That’s how I know that this generation is no different then our generation way back when,
they just have more distractions now then we ever had.
So, you might ask, how can we start to recognize any of the feelings mentioned above that we
maybe having our self right now or have/know a teen that is displaying those symptoms?
Stay tuned for the next blog post to learn more.