What Changes During Adolescence?

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Insecurity as a normal adolescent experience and challenge.

Many teenagers act like sheep, seeking peer attention and approval in their quest to feel secure.

Young people who earn lifetime success act like GOATs, following their unique path up to the mountaintop.

That’s the best word to characterize the adolescent years, including young athletes, based on my 50-plus years of experience working with youth. (Please don’t do the age math on that.) Poetically phrased, insecurity is the essence of adolescence.

A few of the general sources of anxiety young people have shared with me over the years include the experience of getting older, the ensuing loss of childhood, and the terror of approaching adulthood.

Kids entering middle school express being intimidated by the older kids in the building, perceiving them as being in their late teens or early 20s. Trying to figure out how to be a teenager and their bodily changes are other shared challenges.

High school freshmen and sophomores are burdened with feeling immature and undersized. They also struggle with trying to figure out how to appear older and more mature. Juniors and seniors are saddled with the college application process and the realization that high school will soon be ending and that they’ll be leaving home for their post-secondary education.

Adding to all........

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