I hope this has been a fantastic start of the year for you and you are maintaining your goals. Most likely you are approaching the end of the first quarter, and you (or your teen) are working on balancing school, sport, extracurricular and any other demands. Teens have become masters at juggling multiple responsibilities, and it can result in stress and overwhelm.
How you start off your school year, sets the tone for the rest of the year. If you are stressed and overwhelmed now, it is important that you take a look at why, and make a change. High school should be a time of learning, growing and fun, but often times it can feel far from it and like a struggle.
If there is one area that I know teens struggle with it is with asking for help. For some reason, teens (and adults) view asking for help as a show of weakness, like they are failing and that if they can’t do it alone they are not good enough. Trust me I know, because I used to have the very same mindset. As a recovering perfectionist, the biggest lesson I have learned is to ask for help. When we struggle with perfectionism and don’t allow ourselves to show vulnerability and reach out for help we deny ourselves the opportunity to grow and to connect with others. What we end up doing is building a wall making it very difficult for others to support us, and even for us to reach out and ask.
Chances are, you are not going to be perfect in every area of school. And guess what! THAT’S NORMAL.
If you are struggling in an area, it is extremely important that you communicate with your teachers or family and reach out to get help and support. Let them know that you are aware of your situation, and that you are willing to put in the work to improve and change. If you are struggling, the only thing that is in your control is to reach out and get help. Your teachers are there to help you and chances are your school has programs set in place to provide you with support as well. All it takes is for you to step up, reach out and ask for help.
So acknowledge the struggle, come to terms with it and then be willing to take the steps to change the situation. Where you are now, doesn’t define where you are going to be in the end. Your current struggle doesn’t define you, in fact it is an opportunity to learn something new about yourself. When we learn how to move through and out of a struggle, we become stronger individuals and leaders.
I am going to challenge you to think of asking for help as a form of leadership. Any great leader knows that it is essential to have mentors and a support group to help achieve goals. We cannot achieve everything alone, we must reach out, ask for help and together we can reach higher and experience true success.
Feel free to comment below if you connect with this post. Not sure how to start and get help? Schedule a FREE 30-minute Power Session and we can discuss how to get started. CLICK HERE
Much love,
Andrea
