Passion Power

The adolescent stage is between 13-19 years of age. They are filled with untapped potential, but the teenage years are often not seen as positive. It’s the stage of life where we are fraught with insecurity and self-doubt. The stage where we make mountains out of molehills. We sit around feeling isolated, lonely, and believing we are the only ones. The brain is still developing and there is a lot of life lessons learned during this period of life and it doesn’t always go smoothly. It can be explosive and full of drama. Author Cassandra Clare writes, “All my life I've felt like there was something wrong with me. Something missing or damaged. Every teenager in the world feels like that, feels broken or out of place, different somehow, royalty mistakenly born into a family of peasants.” I don’t know anyone that wishes to go back to that time in their life again, yet it’s a time of great discovery about ourselves and world around us. There has been so much emphasis on redefin...

The Impossible Standard of Beauty Am I the only one that thinks there is an implicit connection between the blown-up beauty industry valued at $530 Billion and the increase in anxiety and anti-depressant use in young girls? The impossible standard of beauty in movie stars and advertising models is now, whether we like it or not unavoidable. There’s an online world more than willing to usher them into adulthood with these beauty games as social media influencers are being tapped to promote products and do tutorials on how to use their “favourite” brands. They’re being taught they aren’t clean enough, thin enough or pretty enough and playing right into the hands of these gigantic retailers. I suppose this messaging has been going on for years. I flashback to my teen years when there wasn’t enough makeup in the world to cover up my perceived imperfections. For better or for worse we eventually have to discover that beauty products don’t cure unhappiness, loneliness, a broken heart...

When I read your note about all your feelings and ways in which you beat yourself up I thought it's no wonder she's having a rough time. I agreed with many things you said and believe me your self awareness is pretty good but not as gentle as I would like for my oldest daughter. Acceptance is just sitting quietly and acknowledging what's true. What's true is you're having a wonderful time and there are days when you meltdown. What's true is that you have limiting beliefs about yourself and are ordering shit sandwiches instead of roast beef. You are Gold my dear. Your greatest worry shouldn't be that you are nuisance to someone else. There is no such thing as a 'great' worry. Worries aren't great. This approval seeking is immobilizing you and making you neurotic but don't worry my sweet daughter it happens to the best of us. This universal popularity you so desire with every fiber of your being is.... well.... shall we say a waste of ...