Taking the Roads Not Taken: Traversing Your Turbulent Teenage Years
The period of teenage is anxiety-inducing for not just teenagers but those around them, particularly the ones who take care of teenagers. A primary source of this anxiety stems from teenagers’ increased likeliness to take risks, often without a careful evaluation of what is best for them and what is not. After all, for every individual, what makes the teenage years the most memorable period is the recollection of the myriad of adventurous experiences that taking unfamiliar roads and exploring new terrains provided them with. The tendency to take risks, to a large extent, comes as an inevitable part of being a teenager, and with ample care and attention, these adventures can be made less intimidating and more fun-filled.
Why are teenagers more likely to take risks? While there is no single answer for this, part of the explanation lies in how stepping out of one’s comfort zone is an essential aspect of finding one’s identity and becoming an independent young adult. Researchers, particularly those who dive into the psychological underpinnings of human development, highlight how during adolescence, there are certain changes in one’s brain that make teenagers more focused on the reward they feel from social situations, and this positive reinforcement often leads to one wanting to explore new spaces to expand their understanding of themselves and the world.
As every growth-related phenomenon has underlying scientific explanations, there is one for the teenage tendency to take risks too. The areas of the human brain that handle impulse control and planning do not completely mature until about age 25, making teenagers quicker to make decisions than adults. Therefore, it is safe to say that the hormonal and psychological aspects of being a teenager make risk-taking natural. This is where one must dive into the importance of positive risk-taking, which is nothing but learning new things and exploring unfamiliar territories. This is a positive approach because fundamentally, it evokes a feeling of uncertainty or fear, along with developing a new skill and a positive long-term outcome.
A few common examples of positive risks are sports, arts, volunteering, and even new choices in education. As peer pressure and lack of ample certainty about one’s life are indispensable aspects of being a teenager, it is easy to lose direction and be misled. Therefore, by gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the healthy ways to take risks and new roads, one can make the best of the teenage years, by avoiding any instances of confusion and harm.
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