How to enjoy your teenage life

As a teenager, you may be dealing with lots of emotional highs and lows these feelings are normal. One minute you might feel great, the next you feel sad and tearful. This kind of shift in your moods is okay! 

Your life is changing, just like the same way you notice changes in your body. These mood swings are not just hormones, you may be feeling a lot more pressure these days, and you are still developing the skills you need to deal with that pressure. You may be facing added responsibilities at home like the house chores you really don’t want to take part in, tougher grading policies in school, and your friends may be changing.

As time goes on you will develop the skills you need to manage stress, but for now, just have it at the back of your mind that you are in a tough spot and need all the support you can get. Reach out to elderly friends.

Make the best of it by taking the advice below so that you can remember good things from the past when you finally grow up to become an adult.

You will be an adult soon enough, but you will experience many different changes on the way!

1. Have a healthy social life. As simple as this may be, a healthy social life is the key to enjoying your life in spite of the stress of school. Do things with friends; enjoy buying clothes and accessories. Try to make at least two best friends, and try to make many friends from your gender and two or three the opposite gender for diversity. Go to teen clubs and places; this will be the best interaction with other teenagers or people around your age.

2. Have hobbies at home. Sew, read, play computer games, or draw. Get a Facebook account, but try not to get addicted to it. Make videos with your friends and post them on YouTube. Check online to see the hottest new music and the coolest new artists and songs of your genre of choice. You don’t have to be a fan of pop music only; if you like to listen to your grandma’s ’50s doo wop albums or some nice relaxing smooth jazz or Bob Marley, go ahead Be a fan of your favourite sport team. Find whatever you enjoy doing and do it! Start a movie or book collection.

3. Be Creative — Show off your talents. Write music, write stories and poems, create cool drawings, learn how to create web pages and computer programmes, create your own clothes, cook, bake, work on anything.

4. Think of your own fashion. Be yourself and see what looks good on you (makeup and clothing attire). Whether it’s face makeup (lip gloss and mascara) or body lotion, you got to be decent out the door, right?

Watch what you eat. Eat healthy foods and use junk foods either in moderation or as a treat. Try to have a good amount of water in your system and eat at least one big meal a day; more if you have high metabolism or in sports.

5. Listen to your parents. Yes, it will make your life so much more easy and enjoyable if you just listen to your parents, so you don’t have to hear them keep yelling at you! Obeying them will actually be an easy way into getting what you want, remember it has to be a 50/50 cooperation, not 80/20. Your parents might not be as up to date as you, but they may give you good timeless advice. They are in the real world, not the “surreal teen world”. They had been Teenagers just like you don’t want to know what they did in secondary school, but they had learned from their mistakes which make them the stodgy parents you have today. Just wait, you’ll become the stodgy parent too when you have your own kids.

6. Get involved. School has many things for you to become involved in and have fun doing. Getting involved will help you in future years and you’ll meet a lot of people. Like chess? You can be in the chess club, if the school doesn’t have a club you wish you were in (say press club) you can create your own! This will help you to be motivated in school.

7. Study hard in school. Always turn in your homework on time and do well on tests. Education is the most important thing in your life; doing poorly, not trying, or dropping out of school can hurt your future in a significant way. If you are getting bad grades because you are struggling with something