Post by Tan Yu Rui Rayden (8 August 2020)

Stress Teenagers Face

Teenagers face a lot of stress. Exam stress, peer pressure, social stress and much much more. However, you may ask, how do I cope with these stresses? Well, in this blog we address some of the top triggers for teenagers and how to cope, read on to find out more!

Peer Pressure

Peer pressure can be positive or negative eg. It can encourage you to work harder or it can make you develop an addiction, causing you to neglect school work and social activities. Beyond prompting kids to use drugs, peer pressure or the desire to impress their peers and take over a teen’s fear of taking risks. This risky behaviour could lead to addictions, diseases and accidents.

How can I cope with this stress?

You can talk to other people about it, do not bottle it in, it will make it worse than it already was. Learn to say “NO”. Standing up to peer pressure will save you the trouble of getting pressured again in the future because it sends a clear message that you're not interested. This shows that you’re not willing to compromise. Make your own decisions. Do not just listen to your friends or classmates. Think, am I doing the right thing?

(Adapted from verywellmind, WedMD LLC, wikiHow)

New Environmental Stress

New Environmental Stress is often caused whenever one is placed in a foreign environment/somewhere out of his or her own comfort zone. When this happens, most people would be afraid of talking to the people around him/her and would not be as open/friendly when socializing with other people in the same environment.

New Environmental Stress is often caused by Environmental Stressors, which are Noise, Crowding and Air Quality to name a few examples. How do we calm ourselves in such circumstances?

(Adapted from Study.com)

How can I cope with this stress?

You can take some deep breaths or open the windows to breathe in some fresh air. If you are still too worried/scared, why don’t start a game of icebreakers? In this game, everyone would introduce himself or herself and that would be a great way to find someone who might have the same interests/hobbies as you.

This stress is not good to anyone in any way. Since you have changed school/company/business/occupation, you must still take the initiative to know the people that would be your classmates/colleagues, in order to build a healthy and rewarding relationship with them, and make your company/school better.

Just some last words, do always try to reach out to more people and never be shy. Just a few words might just earn you another purposeful, meaningful and fruitful friend!!!!!

Social Connections

As teenagers, it is normal to stress about our appearances when with our friends. However, too much stress can result in them keeping their thoughts to themselves and blocking themselves from the society. Teenagers would not be able to socialize as easily, compared to others. When people experience too much social stress, they might feel symptoms such as headaches, rapid heart rate, dizziness, a tight feeling in the lungs, depression, and severe anxiety.

Social stress can be caused by teenagers caring too much about their appearance, to look cool or cute, especially with social media pages such as Instagram. So how will we be able to cope with this?

How can I cope with this stress?

Firstly, we have to turn off our social media page and get together with our friends and family. It is the face-to-face interaction that matters, not the online world that we crave. You can start off with playing a few games with your friends to increase interaction with them. By taking pockets of time to have meet up sessions, you will then be able to overcome your anxiety eventually!

Do remember. Whatever you fear, your friends and family members will always be there to listen to you, so don’t bear it alone. No man is an island!

If you want to learn more, stay tuned for our blog.