Is your teenage daughter exhausted and stressed out?
Her fatigue may be the due to self-defeating behaviors that deplete her personal power.
Research shows that girls are more aware of human emotion and process emotional stimuli differently than boys.
Experiencing sensitivity overload on a regular basis can make teenage girls more vulnerable to feeling anxious and depressed.
Even the most confident teen may falter if she is:
Always blaming someone else for how she feels – When your daughter hands over her happiness to someone else, it dis-empowers her. She’s giving up all control if she’s waiting around for a peer to swoop in and change her mood.
Stuck in negative thought loops – This is the ticker-tape that runs through your daughter’s mind, playing her negative thoughts over and over. The longer this plays out, the more prevalent self-doubt becomes. Questions such as, “What’s wrong with me?” begin to surface and rattle her confidence.
Trying to change the people around her – This is risky and rarely works because no one likes to feel manipulated. Your daughter is likely spinning her wheels if she’s trying to choreograph her peer’s behavior to re-build her own self-worth.
So, if the cells in your body react to everything that your mind says and negativity brings down your immune system ~ let’s work together to teach your daughter effective emotional management.
Begin by encouraging your daughter to …
- Identify the top 3 issues that push her buttons (e.g. social injustice, being excluded, lying, self-limiting beliefs, cheating)
- Explore her beliefs about those issues (Beliefs are assumptions we hold to be true, based on past experiences)
- Recognize her thought traps (jumping to conclusions, mind reading, tunnel vision)
Allow time for the these thought provoking questions to be evaluated, processed and absorbed.
Remember, it’s important to stay curious and exercise self-compassion, because harsh self-judgement never inspires transformation.
Helping your daughter understand the ‘big picture,’ is your next step.
Rather than falling into the proverbial black hole of assumptions …
Ask her to consider:
- What is the evidence here?
- What would help clarify the situation?
- Could I have missed any important information / facts?
Your daughters personal power will come to fruition when she recognizes that she is the boss of her mind and her emotions.
And, practicing thought work together may yield a stronger personal connection for parent and teen.
Do you have an “ah-ha” story about your daughter stepping into her personal power?
Sharing stories build connection … and connection is a key ingredient to resilience.
If these concepts resonate with you, but you’d like more information, take advantage of a free Discovery Session with me here [1].