Everyone Deals with Tough Stuff.

I had a little aha moment yesterday. Maybe it was more of a ‘duh’ moment. It reminded me again of all the reasons I started a Web site and wrote a book for teen girls. I was talking to some teens yesterday and they were sharing experiences they had growing up and in high school.

This is what never ceases to amaze me: Every single girl I have a chance to talk with always shares a powerful event or experience she has had to deal with. Usually it’s many more than just one! Whether it’s an eating disorder, peer pressure, drugs and alcohol, parent issues, divorce, school stress, struggling with feeling beautiful… the list goes on and on! EVERY SINGLE GIRL!

It doesn’t matter how much money she has or what she looks like, the issues are basically the same. My fear is that some girls make it through these hard times and others don’t. Some literally lose their lives and other girls are forever hurled down a path of self destruction that is hard to recover from. So, what can we do about this?

1. We can stop fighting and competing against each other. Girls need to support one another and stop putting each other down. Imagine what power we’d have if we built each other up instead!

2. We need to realize that we each hold tremendous beauty, courage, and strength. We’ve all had low confidence days. When we’re feeling bad, we need to surround ourselves with friends who can lift us up.

3. We need to realize we all make mistakes. Let’s stop holding tight to our secrets and share what’s going on in our lives. Let’s share what we’ve learned, how we’ve made it through tough times, and what we’ve learned from our mistakes.

4. We need to learn how to follow our own intuition. You know that little voice inside of you that tells you to put your seat belt on, to not hang out with so and so, or to just go for it? This is something that takes a little practice, but we can all do it!

5. We need to learn how to maintain our self respect. Are the decisions you make today moving you closer or farther away from this?

We want to hear from you. Can you add to our list? What do you think we need to do as girls to overcome the challenges we face everyday?