High school seniors often spend countless hours studying for the SAT, building their resumes, and preparing applications for the colleges on their list. While preparing for college is exciting for many students, it can be equally stressful, leaving students with mixed feelings.
Teens are often ready and excited for the opportunity to be independent and study subjects they are passionate about learning, they are also sad about leaving friends and family and worried about failing when they branch out on their own.
While this period of stress and change is inevitable, your teen can have an easier time navigating this period and a smoother transition to college if they practice self-compassion.
What is self-compassion?
When teens practice self-compassion, they are able to acknowledge their present feelings and circumstances without judgment, allowing themselves to address these feelings and their current needs.
Self-compassion often helps reduce stress because it allows students to understand what they need and gives them the freedom to seek out what they need without shame. This gives them the opportunity to get the help and support they need before their stress and anxiety reaches a breaking point.
Why your teen should practice self-compassion
Self-compassion is one of the most powerful tools your teen can use to reduce stress before heading off to college.
Here are a few ways that self-compassion can help your teen as they go through their senior year and navigate the college admissions process:
Self-compassion helps teens identify their feelings
Burnout doesn’t happen out of the blue. Most of the time when people feel overwhelmed to their breaking point, their feelings of stress have been building for a while.
If your teen is able to recognize and accept their feelings without judgment, they will be able to work toward eliminating feelings of stress and anxiety before they become too much for them to handle.
For example, if your teen is starting to feel overwhelmed by their extracurricular activities, they would be able to recognize these feelings and know to take some time out for self-care or to reduce their workload.
Self-compassion reduces fears of failure
Many teens are afraid that they will not be cut out for college-level work or to handle life out on their own.
Practicing self-compassion allows teens to recognize that it is okay to be imperfect. This way instead of being paralyzed by the fear of failing a class, getting an SAT score that is lower than they hoped, or not making friends on the first day in the dorms, they can be okay with taking risks, making mistakes, and trying new things.
Self-compassion helps teens cope with negative feelings and events
If your teen starts to feel sad, discouraged, or anxious while completing the college application process, self-compassion will keep their negative thoughts and feelings from spiraling out of control. Instead of wallowing in these feelings, they will be able to acknowledge and accept the way that they feel, so they can move forward.
Likewise, if your teen does have a tough time making friends in college, or they get a poor grade on a test or a paper, self-compassion will help them learn to recognize and grow from their mistakes instead of giving up or feeling shame and self-loathing.
Ways for your teen to practice self-compassion
If your teen is struggling to practice self-compassion, here are some tips you can share with them that will help:
Have the same compassion and respect for yourself that you do for your friends and loved ones
Practice mindfulness and check-in with yourself about your feelings
Take time out of your day to practice self-care
Focus on self-validation rather than validation from others
Acknowledge when you are judging yourself and redirect your thoughts
Write down positive affirmations about yourself
Reach out to others when you need help
Advocate for yourself and your needs
Build a strong support system so that you can find help before your need it
By keeping these tips in mind, your teen will find it easier for them to have self-compassion when they are moving through challenging situations in life.
When preparing for college, practicing self-compassion can be just as important for teens as earning good grades and studying for standardized tests. Make sure that they know how to practice self-compassion so that they don’t experience burnout or have difficulty coping with the changes that come with their senior year and their college prep.