I have a son serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is hard. These kids leave for two years. They leave behind their family, their friends, their schooling, their phones, their sports, their video games and so much more. Then they are expected to be ok with all the emotions of being on their own in a new world. They have never done that before. They are homesick and anxious and sad and lonely. When they used to feel these emotions they would "buffer" them with social media or video games or playing sports. They didn't have to feel them if they didn't want to. That's just what teenagers do. They just don't know what to do with these emotions when they have nothing to turn to anymore. We all need to learn that it is ok to feel these negative emotions. It is not going to kill us to feel anxiety or lonely or scared. The worse thing that will happen is that we will feel sad for a moment or homesick or anxiety. And that is OK. It will go away. If we can learn to deal or feel our negative emotions then we don't have to rely on all the world has to offer to get rid of them. If you have a teenager or young adult who struggles with anxiety of processing their emotions click the link at the bottom of my page to book a free mini session to learn how I can help them.
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