Youth at First Christian

Conquering the Teen Years

So, we know that your close relationship with Jesus will help you through your a lot of the pitfalls about being a teen, but we also know that everyone stumbles through this time sharing a lot of the same stresses – even when you think you may be the only one. Here’s some of what we know:

• Fitting High School into Your Schedule. We know, you’ve got sports, hanging out with friends, you need some sleep, there is sometimes a job, music….. It is tough to fit in 6-7 hours of high school with all the other stuff going on. And somehow, the homework is taking a lot of time to get done. There’s a lot more you need to do to get ready for each day of classes than you had in Middle School.
• Totally Lame Jobs. You need a job to have some spending money, but the jobs you can get are so lame. Literally anyone could do your job and you know you are smarter than what you were hired to do. You shouldn’t really have to start at the bottom, right?!
• Finding Your Friends. It used to be really easy to make a new friend and have someone to play with. You told each other your names and your favorite colors and presto – a friend was born. It is hard now to find people who like the things you like. Who don’t think you are a total nerd – who actually think you are pretty cool.
• Everyone Thinks Your Future Should Be Planned. About the only thing the adults in your world want to talk about is what you are going to do when you graduate. What work will you do? What college? What college major? Have you filled out applications? Have you got financial aid figured out? What will your career be?
• There Are A Lot of Bullies. In movies the bully was always ready to attack you for your shoes or your lunch money or just because this week, they didn’t like you. But today, bullies are everywhere. And they follow you home on your social media. There are even some adults in your life who are bullies.
• Your Parents Have a LOT of Expectations. For most of us, the unconditional cheerleaders in your lives have been our parents. At least on some level we really do know that they only want what is best for us. But there seem to be a lot of times now that what parents want for us and what we want for ourselves aren’t the same thing.
• LOVE. It hurts so bad when you love someone who isn’t all that into you. What if they are dating someone else? What if they don’t ever notice you? What if you break up? What if your heart never mends?
• Fitting In. There is so much pressure to just fit in with the crowd. But a lot of times the crowd doesn’t really fit who you are or who you want to be. You want to be cool. But maybe being cool means you are doing things or acting in some way that makes you feel bad about yourself.
• Mixed Messages. First, they tell you, “You are too old for this.” Then they tell you, “You are too young to understand. You are just a kid.” Would someone just decide if you are supposed to be adulting today or is it ok to be a kid?
• Physical Changes. Mood swings that make absolutely no sense to you. You could sleep for hours and hours and hours. You could eat literally everything in the house in one sitting and still be hungry. What on earth is happening to your voice? And for some of us, we go through times of just sadness – even though nothing is really wrong.