This Teenage Life

Welcome to the first episode of Season 8 of This Teenage Life! The teens discuss their relationships with exercise: Where are the lines between healthy and unhealthy habits? How can an accountability buddy make it easier to find practices you enjoy? We also hear from Kristin Hoffner, a kinesiology professor at Arizona State University, who shares insights on the science of movement and its connection to mental health. Support for this episode comes from ASU Learning Enterprise. We invite you to explore the Online Health and Wellness Universal Learner Course. Designed for learners at any stage, this course covers a wide variety of health-related topics to improve your personal health and well-being. It even offers an option to earn college credit. Visit the link to learn more: https://courses.ulc.asu.edu/introduction-to-health-and-wellness-hep-100/

One of the biggest pressures of getting older is the idea of having to "figure things out" by yourself. How do we navigate the pressure to "know what we're doing" while also being flexible and open to new things? How do we process the reality that life might turn out differently from our childhood dreams? How do we process that life is less linear than we imagined? In this episode of This Teenage Life, the teens talk about the anticipation of moving from high school to college and beyond. They grapple with expectations to figure out who they are and what they want to be "when they grow up," even while also recognizing that there is no end to growing up, and that all of life is a process of growing.

Throwback episode on a popular topic...periods! In this episodes, teens share stories and reflections on getting their periods for the first time, navigating the logistics and their feelings about periods, and working to destigmatize menstruation. To hear our first episode on periods, check it out here on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Grief, adversity, and trauma are common, formative human experiences that people move through and grow from. Yet, we often avoid talking about this process, making it harder to understand how people make meaning from grief. Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) offers us a paradigm for how to make sense of hard experiences and move forward in ways that deepen our connections with ourselves and each other. In this episode, teens share their stories and we hear from Dr. Taryn Greene, a research psychologist who works with the Boulder Crest Foundation to study PTG. Check out Boulder Crest's PTG story challenge, with opportunities to win funding to share your story. To learn more about posttraumatic growth, check out the resources below. And as always, if you want to reach out, email us at team@thisteenagelife.org. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/struggle-well/202303/how-to-use-grief-to-grow https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/struggle-well/202305/navigating-trauma-is-not-easy-expert-companions-can-help https://bouldercrest.org/research-resources/what-is-posttraumatic-growth-ptg/

Clear skin, "feminine features," "snatched bodies," — we're often taught to associate our self worth with how we line up with societal expectations about beauty. In this throwback episode, we speak openly and honestly about our body insecurities, where they come from, and how we are working on them.

In this throwback episode, we talk about our experiences of academic pressure and academic validation and how it makes us feel.

Connecting with the natural world can bring about a spectrum of feelings, especially after spending most of the day inside at school or work. Even though it can be such a grounding and energizing experience, many of us struggle to find time to get outside. In this episode, the teens chat about how where they live impacts the way they connect with the natural world, how it feels when they do, and the impact of using nature to disconnect from the day to day grind.