How Anxiety Can Help Teens Practice For Life Challenges

Getting to the other side of anxiety

In this short video Lauren Muriello, LPC of Well Being Therapy Center, talks about how we all experience anxiety and that it is a natural, healthy part of the human condition. This reminds me of I a quote I saw recently that read … 

Using fear as a tool

Lauren makes a great point about the importance for parents to try not to shield their teens from the things that might trigger their anxiety and fear but to let them feel worried and anxious and to help them “get on the other side of it.” Anxiety is just an emotion like any other. We don’t have to get anxious about feeling anxious.

She discusses the importance for parents to encourage their children not to avoid the things that frighten them. The more we avoid things that make us anxious, the more things we find to become anxious about. Avoiding certain things may help us feel less anxious now, but in the long run, that avoidance can make our lives smaller.

Are you contributing to your teen’s anxiety?

Lauren suggests that the higher expectations we may put on our children today can add to their stress and anxiety. She reminds us that there is a good chance that the grade our kids get in their AP Biology class will probably not have a very high correlation to the happiness they will experience.

I know that it is very easy as parents to project their wants and maybe even unfulfilled dreams onto our children. Sometimes it can be a challenge NOT to pass on our worries and fears, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to relax more and help our teenagers do the same.

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I do hope you get a chance to watch the video above and opt in for the whole series. I think there are some good takeaways sprinkled throughout. If you missed the opt-in form at the end of the video, here it is again.

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