Wisdom bytes
Present Not Perfect: How Parents Can Equip Their Children to Thrive in Today’s Performance and Appearance Obsessed Culture
In today's society, we're bombarded with messages dictating how we should be—healthier, more productive, more successful. Children and teens, especially, are vulnerable to these pressures. Adolescence is already a confusing time, and with instant access to endless information, these messages carry even more weight. If our youth start believing they must meet impossible standards to be valued, they risk experiencing low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and underperformance.
Anxiety: How Much Is Too Much?
The answer is when it is routinely getting in the way of us living our life, also called functional impairment. This idea is what separates anxiety from anxiety disorder.
3 Questions To Quiet Your Inner Critic
The first step is to recognize that as painful and hindering as the inner critic is, it does have the best of intentions. Its words are formed from years of trying to protect us. However, because of the reasons listed above, its well-intentioned efforts backfire. It is best to approach our inner critic with a mindset of curiosity, and we can begin to do so by asking these 3 questions: What is the worst that can happen? What are the odds of that happening? How would you cope?