We Will Always, Always Find Our Way Back: How Teens & Adults Naturally Recover from Upset & Anxiety

One of those quotes I hear a lot is “From the mouths of babes come truth,” referring to the wisdom of young people.

Yet I find the public tends to spend more time in feelings of concern, frustration, or annoyance when it comes to young people, especially teens. And to a large extent, teens can be obnoxious, loud, ungrateful, and massively self-involved so it’s understandable.

I remember as a teenager carefully balancing a wrapper on top of the garbage pile in the kitchen to avoid having to take the trash out.

Young people’s lives can be pretty unstable, chaotic, and unpredictable, and they often wear their feelings right on the outside. Unlike adults, they’re not good at hiding their emotions. If they’re overwhelmed or don’t feel like talking, it’s VERY clear.

But when I talk to my young adult clients, many of whom are extremely troubled, I’m astounded by how fast they find their own answers.

The top layer can be a giant mess, yet right under the surface, as soon as their minds settle a little bit, they see things with a level of perspective, neutrality and humility that frankly a lot of my adult clients have a hard time finding.

This is where adults could stand to learn from teens.

Kids and young people bounce back faster than adults, even when it comes to things we all struggle with most, like break-ups, rejections, disappointments and feeling out of control.

Young people are certainly more public in their suffering, pain, and isolation.

But they come back from it faster, find their own way, and move on sooner and with less baggage than adults.

For the adults reading this, we all started out that way too -- more resilient, more adaptable. And that ability to reset more quickly and more gracefully is always at our fingertips.

It’s a pre-installed setting.

While we all lose our way in life, we always find our way back.

And somehow for young people, while they may be more messy and unpleasant when they’re lost, they switch out of it so fluidly.

That’s one of the points in today’s recording.

This is a podcast interview hosted by my colleague Siobhan Friel from New Zealand (and just a warning that you’ll hear a bit of bad language).

To listen, click below. You’ll be taken to the podcast episode.

To listen to more of Siobhan’s excellent podcast episodes, click here.