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. We hope you can use their post to start a conversation with your adolescent.
The blog post includes a discussion containing sexual themes and mentions of consent. You may find this irrelevant for your child, but we wanted to present an ambassador’s realistic experience with mental health and intimacy.
I want to start off this post by highlighting the importance of consent. If you do not want to engage in physical intimacy, that is okay. Your body, your choice.
At night when I’m laying in bed with my partner, I often find it hard to turn off my racing thoughts. It is sometimes hard for me to focus on the moment and be truly present. I want to be able to give my partner my attention and physical intimacy, but it is hard for me at times.
While my partner does not make me feel guilty for this, I can’t help but feel guilty myself. I have explained my racing thoughts to my partner and am grateful that I have been met with understanding and patience. It is known that stress can reduce sex drive and I wish this was a more commonly talked about symptom of mental health diagnoses. While sexuality is often emphasized in our culture, we don’t always talk about the reality of our experiences.
Moving forward, I hope to improve my mindfulness skills so that I can practice my mindfulness in bed.
In what ways is your child affected by their stress? How has stress affected parts of your life? Have you ever talked to your child about sex? How would you tie mental health into the discussion?