“If you’re not failing, it probably means you’re not taking enough risks.”
Those are the words of Peter Forkner, director of the counseling center at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, at a recent event in which Bentley, staff, faculty, and alumni recount their stories of failure and lessons learned from them. Bentley University is one of many US colleges making the move to ease students’ anxieties around failure and teaching them to cope with it. Continue reading Embracing Failure
You may have noticed the abundance of people outside as the weather starts getting warmer and days get longer. There’s just something so refreshing about being able to walk outside for the first time without layers of clothing on and having the warm sun hitting your skin. Continue reading A Walk in the Park
Stretching your body is a good thing. It’s highly recommended, especially if you’re active. Even if you aren’t, there are still health benefits to even the slightest movements with the body, especially mentally.
While the lasting power of things on the Internet is permanent, the significance and popularity of some things are fickle. Even if Facebook is still up and running, notes and middle school photos buried somewhere deep down your feed, you probably don’t use it anymore – what was once one of the most popular website for teens is now only used by 51% of them, with only 10% saying they use it the most often. MySpace is pretty much nonexistent (as well as all the music on the website – one of the main features of the social network, and Tumblr has had a significant decline in users in recent years. Continue reading #tbt: How Did Teens Use Social Media in 2007?
The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives.
Since I’ve been young, I felt that my depression was different than normal. And of course, there is no normal, yet my reasons for depression are quite different. I’d like to call it philosophical depression, although through my research, I’ve learned that what I feel is called existential depression. Continue reading Existential Depression
When was the last time you felt lonely? What about left out?
A national study published this year showed that 39% of high school seniors said they often feel lonely in 2017, an increase from 26% in 2012. 38% of high school seniors also reported often feeling left out in 2017 compared to 30% in 2012. According to a national study from the health insurer Cigna in 2018, young adults between the ages of 19 to 23 are the loneliest. Continue reading Loneliness in Adolescents
The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives.
In my last blog, I wrote about how art has been therapeutic for me, and I mentioned the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I wanted to dig a little deeper into two activities that she describes: morning pages and artist dates. These are two great ways to practice self-care and learn more about yourself! Continue reading Morning Pages and Artist Dates
Have you ever experienced an upset stomach, a tight chest, clammy hands, or any other physical reaction when you’re stressed or depressed? The mind and body have an incredibly strong connection, and when you’re feeling an overwhelming amount of emotion, your brain can process it as being in danger even if the situation isn’t life-threatening, and initiates the fight-flight-freeze response. Continue reading What is Somatization?
An easy target for those criticizing how adolescents use technology today is by mimicking them taking a selfie. The image can feel much more familiar than you may want to admit: your phone in your hand, arm stretched out in front of you as you angle and turn both it and your head as you try to find the most flattering shot. You take a few, get unhappy with nearly all of them, then repeat the process with different lighting, by changing your hair ever so slightly, and so on. Continue reading The Effects of a Selfie
The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives.
As Stevie Wonder once sang, “Superstition ain’t the way…”or is it? Most are to some extent superstitious, whether it be knocking on wood, reading your daily horoscope, or friggatriskaidekaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th). While superstition is not often taken extremely seriously, it has negative and positive effects on us. Continue reading Superstition: Is It the Way?