5 Ways To Increase Confidence And Avoid Anxiety In Adolescents
Today’s kids are under more pressure than their parents were due to the existence of social media and how tremendously demanding today’s world has become. Therefore, to help, as much as possible, we are going to explain 5 ways to increase confidence and avoid anxiety in adolescents.
Adults, when we think of our childhood times in school, one of the first things we remember is our relationships with other classmates and friends from then, that is, in our social experience. When boys reach secondary school, we can see in them everything that we went through in their day: insecurities, fears, new relationships, friends, acting before others, worries …
Instruments to increase confidence and avoid anxiety in adolescents
For our children to face life and its adversities more effectively, having great confidence in themselves is crucial. We have to make them aware that we all have strengths that will be key to developing our self-confidence. The instruments that we are going to talk about next will help the adolescent to gain that confidence that he needs to move from adolescence to adulthood.
Strengths
According to Dr. Martin Seligman, each person has 24 key strengths within, such as leadership, humility or perseverance. We all have them (although some more and others less). If we discover which ones our children have more present and we get them to help themselves, we will make their self-esteem grow. By knowing what they are, you will be able to take paths in life more safely.
Emotions
Feelings and emotions are something to which we must pay a good part of our attention to listen and recognize what they communicate to us. They are not there to make us feel bad or suffer. Worry, anger, sadness, negativity, among other emotions, try to communicate messages that are very important to us.
For example, anger can mean that a situation or a person is overstepping our limits. Worry can be an indication that something important is about to happen and we need to focus on fixing it or dealing with it. We have to understand why we have a certain feeling each time.
Self pity
Sometimes when a teenager has the feeling that he is being judged or made fun of, it can further increase his self-doubt. To avoid this, you have to practice self-compassion. It has three fundamental components:
- Mindfulness : giving oneself time to feel and understand our own existence.
- Tolerance towards oneself : talking to oneself in the same way that we would speak to a friend.
- Altruism : being aware that no one is perfect and that we will never be alone.
These three components can help teens (or younger children) cope with difficult social and emotional situations.
Self-esteem to increase confidence and avoid anxiety
Self-esteem is very important when relating to other people, since depending on whether it is low or high, we will be more or less predisposed to interact with other people.
Adolescents are at a stage in their life in which social relationships are very important and having a good self-esteem is going to be key to this. It is important that we value every effort of our child and show it to him; The criticisms we make must be constructive and we must help them to do what they like and, of course, dedicate time to them. All of this will help you develop good self-esteem so that you can better relate to the rest of the world.
Nervousness
Did you know that nerves can help us improve our performance? When they take hold of one, they make us more alert and the flow of blood within us is greater.
Contrary to what many think, nervousness is more like a feeling of excitement than something unpleasant, since the heart races, our thoughts go a thousand per hour, and we can feel a tingling in the stomach. All this can work in our favor if, when we are very pressured, we think that we are very excited instead of nervous.
Regarding the instruments to increase confidence and avoid anxiety in adolescents …
With the instruments that we have just shown, we can help our children to increase confidence and avoid anxiety when meeting new people or environments. They are the foundation they have to use to cope with the world beyond their home.
We all know that adolescence is full of changes in boys, both physically and psychologically. For this reason, it is important that we take these tools into account when helping our children to trust them. Plus, all of this will give them the boost their confidence needs to go from teens to adults.
