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he teen years are stressful. Whether it is school, college, friends, dating
or conflicts with parents, the passage to adulthood can be complicated and might
even be fraught with trauma.
There are so many changes to deal with, both mentally and physically. A lot of stress
from within and stress from outside influences in a world that is becoming more complicated.
Mental Fitness for Teens and Parents has approached this topic from various perspectives,
always with the goal of guiding teens onto the path of recovery with greater resilience and
mental fitness.
I believe having different perspectives is vital because the path to mental fitness
is different for each individual. Everything we live through, negative or positive, is
experienced uniquely by each one of us based on our unique biology and the sum of all
our previous experiences and current circumstances. Ten people can be hit by exactly the
same trauma at the same moment and each one will be affected by it and respond to it
differently.
The word “unique” brings me to my favorite tool or mental exercise, which I have used
to bring my life back onto the path of mental fitness whenever I have felt off-track. That
tool is simply to celebrate the miracle of our uniqueness.
Think about it: every single human being in every corner of this world has a unique
thumbprint and iris. Each one of us is absolutely unique. There has never been and never
will be two humans with exactly the same thumbprints or irises. Never.
When a teenager is able to recognize and celebrate they are “one of a kind” it’s an
awakening to a healthy dose of self-worth. That can lead to practicing self-care. And that
ricochets into improved confidence, which propels pushing the boundaries of comfort
zones, taking ownership of the direction they want for their lives, further expanding their
self-awareness, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually and embracing life fully.
Each individual’s uniqueness, it turns out, is a precious key that can open the door to
tremendous opportunities to make the very best with the life and body they have been
given and to examine the possibilities with introspection, confidence, sense of purpose
and curiosity. Every tool and insight in this issue of Mental Fitness Magazine is meant
to help teens take that key in their hands, reach that open door of possibilities—no
matter what their struggles—and unlock it.
(
Each
individual’s
uniqueness,
it turns out, is a
precious key
that can open
the door to
tremendous
opportunities to
make the very
best with the
life and body
they have
been given
Welcome.
Ute Lawrence