Anxiety and stress are common struggles for teens. I’m sharing all of my tips to overcome stress & anxiety as teens using mindfulness…
By the time we enter high school, a lot of us already have anxiety or stress or both.
Mindfulness teaches us how to live with awareness of all things, including our feelings of anxiety & mindfulness. In this blog, I’m sharing those tools with you so you can find more inner peace, calm, confidence, and presence in your teen life. Here’s how you can overcome anxiety & stress as teens using mindfulness!
Why Are Us Teens So Stressed & Anxious In The First Place?
As children, we take on these things called subconscious programmings. Subconscious programmings are self-limiting beliefs that we take on as children and control how we react to life because they are subconscious. These beliefs can be about ourselves, money, love, and the world. These beliefs can be things like…
- “I’m not allowed to be myself”
- “I’m not good enough”
- “I always fail”
- “Being happy and doing well in school at the same time is impossible”
- “I will only be happy if I have friends”
- “I’m only accepted if I change who I am”
- “Money is a burden”
- “Money will bring me happiness”
- “People are annoying and won’t like me”
- “I don’t deserve friends”
- “People are judgmental”
Any of these triggering your mind or sound familiar? It probably does and that is okay! If not, maybe your subconscious beliefs are different or you aren’t aware of them which is okay too.
The biggest step in overcoming stress & anxiety as a teen is becoming aware of our subconscious programmings and releasing them. Once we can do this, we can be the empowered, confident individuals we want to be. But this is NOT AN EASY THING TO DO!
Free Mindfulness For Teens PDF!
Undoing subconscious programmings is like redoing a faulty pipe system in a house, you have to tear a lot of walls and rebuild it to be better.
Doing this is something that many adults never even become aware of and it’s a monumental challenge to take on but trust me, it’s worth it! We just have to keep working at it. Hopefully, after you read this blog, you’ll have plenty of tools to overcome your programs, release your anxiety, and live with less stress.
How to Overcome Stress & Anxiety Using Mindfulness For Teens…
Anxiety & stress are very similar to each other. If you look at their roots, they are one in the same. There is only one difference, stress comes on usually when we have a lot we need to do versus anxiety usually comes on as a safety measure to not get stressed. It’s stress’s stress. (Did that make sense?)
Either way, both these feelings make us rigid, angry, pained, tense, heavy and blocked. These feelings are weighing on our souls. And if you are dealing with either, you can use the mindfulness practices below to overcome anxiety & stress.
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1. Teens Mindfulness Practice: Utilize Breathwork For Stress & Anxiety
Breathwork can help us tremendously with anxiety & stress. Stress & anxiety are always trying to sweep us away and keep us caught up in what we’re going to do.
By practicing breathwork, we stay grounded in the present and clear our minds to look at why we are tense in the first palace and how we can release our fears. Try using the breathwork practices below next time this internal tension comes on.
EXERCISE:
- Set a timer for 2 minutes and do jumping jacks to get your heart pumping. When the timer goes off, sit in a comfortable position on the floor and do this breathwork…
- BOX BREATH: Take a deep breath to start fresh. On your next inhale, breathe in for 4 seconds, hold at the top for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, and hold at the bottom for 4 seconds. Repeat this pattern 4 times (or more). If 4 seconds feels too long, you can do this pattern for 3 or 2 seconds or if it’s too easy, you can do it for 5 or even 6 seconds! Just make sure the inhale, hold at the top, exhale, and hold at the bottom are all the same amounts of time
- After doing the 4 rounds of box breath, sit and reflect for a minute on what made you feel stressed or anxious, not letting yourself fall into those feeling again. See it you can find why you are stressed. Once you’ve found it, state it multiple times until you process it.
- Then, finish with 3 deep breaths out your mouth as you release the stress repeating in your head or out loud, “I am no longer allowing myself to feel like that. I am capable, I am loved, and I deserve to be at peace.”
2.Teens Mindfulness Practice: Do Journaling For Stress & Anxiety
Journaling gives us a safe space to express our stresses and anxieties. When we look back at what we have written over the months, we’ll start to see patterns and notice our subconscious programming. Journaling is a broad subject.
All you have to do is practice writing down your uncensored thoughts. There are many different types of journaling you can do but here is one specific set of prompts you can do for stress & anxiety when it comes up…
Free Mindfulness For Teens PDF!
EXERCISE: Stop what you are doing when you feel your stress/anxiety com on and journal the questions below:
- “Where in my body can I feel my stress/anxiety?”
- “How does it feel? Heavy, rigid, tense, etc?”
- “What am I stressed/anxious about right now?” Don’t censor your thoughts. Dump all your thoughts down onto the paper.
- “What is the root fear behind this.” Fear of failure, judgment, pain, etc.
- “Why do I believe that this fear is my natural fate? Is there a programming that tells you you are destined for this fear endless you push yourself to stress and anxiety?”
- Write an affirmation 9 times that empowers you to believe in yourself, that you are capable and you deserve to be happy, peaceful, and free.
3. Teens Mindfulness Practice: Meditation To Release Your Stress & Anxiety
When I first started meditating at 15, so much of my anxiety and stress was released! Don’t skip this tool. Meditation is a key mindfulness practice we have to use to overcome stress & anxiety as teens.
When we sit in silence, we allow any hidden emotions, beliefs, and thoughts that our stress/anxiety are rooted in to come out of hiding and be healed. If you are new to meditation, read some of my other blogs and check out some of my guided meditations on my YouTube channel. Specifically, do this meditation for anxiety and stress below.
Related Blog: 15 Meditations Every Teen With Anxiety Needs To Do
4.Teens Mindfulness Practice: Give Your Stress & Anxiety a Name
This is a fun little add-on that helps me deal with my stress as a teen, naming it! I’ve named my stress and anxiety Spongebob because my stress makes me act like him. By naming your stress/anxiety, it will help you call it out when it tries to sneak up on you and take the wheel.
For instance, when you are in line to order coffee and you notice you are rehearsing your order 100 times, say to yourself “hey Kelly (my anxiety,) I know you are trying to help but you’re not. Please leave. I got this.” Or when you are overwhelmed by schoolwork, say “Yo Brad, stop giving me stress. I’m capable and I’ve got this! I don’t need to worry.”
Find a name that means something to you and resembles your stress/anxiety well. Think of fictional characters, annoying people you know, names you hate, get creative.
5.Teens Mindfulness Practice: Listen To Music
Music can be a great form of therapy that can help us with our stress and anxiety. Put on a pair of headphones and play a variety of songs. As you listen, write down how each song makes them feel and if you can figure out why that emotion is coming up. This helps us become mindful of emotional triggers and repressed emotions.
Alter these activities to your liking and make them consistent! Having a consistent mindfulness practice is a vital part of overcoming stress & anxiety as teens. Because mindfulness is like exercise, you have to do it consistently for its effects to work. Check out my related blogs for more mindfulness for teens’ content because those will help you so much too!
Free Mindfulness For Teens PDF!
If you have any questions, leave a comment below!
Related Blogs:
- Complete Guide To Mindfulness For Teens
- Best Mindfulness Activities For Teens
- 39 Journal Prompts For Teens With Anxiety
- Beginners Guide To Meditation For Teens
- 15 Best Meditations For Teens
- 5 Simple Mindfulness Practices To Add To Your Morning Routine
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