MindSG
Explore our suite of self-care tools and resources to help you better understand and manage your mental health.
Undergoing transitions
During our teenage years, we experience key events, such as puberty, graduation, and entering new schools. Through such transitions, we develop independence, form our identity, and learn to take on new responsibilities.
While this can be an exciting time to gain new experiences, it can also be intimidating and may bring about stress or overwhelming emotions which could affect our mental well-being.
Read on to find out what we can do to cope with transitions in our lives.
What are
transitions?
Transitions are events and situations that result in changes to our lives such as in our
relationships, routines, or roles.
Common transitions we experience
While the changes we face may vary individually, there are some common ones we
undergo during our teenage years. These include:
and expectations
- Being more sensitive to others’ emotions
- Becoming more self-conscious, especially about physical appearance
part of puberty
- Wanting to spend more time with our peers
(i.e. meeting different people or making new friends)
changes in
routine such as
new study
schedules and
new practices
How to cope
with transitions
and its effects
The changes caused by transitions disrupt our routines as well as our feelings of familiarity, comfort,
and security.
To deal with transitions, we may need to step out of our comfort zone, discard old habits, relearn, and even pick up new skills.
Here are some ways we can cope with transitions:
Be kind to ourselves
Reach out to friends or trusted adults around us
Prepare ourselves
Set realistic expectations
Develop a consistent
routine
Keep an open mind
Set small goals
As going through transitions can be very stressful, it is important we learn to cope with it. Read on for some ways we can identify and manage it.
Look out for signs of stress
Although stress is often misunderstood as being simply bad, a manageable dose of stress is good and can motivate us to work towards our goals.
When stress becomes overwhelming, it will affect our well-being negatively. Sometimes, we might not notice when we are feeling stressed but there are some common signs to look for, including:
Trembling
Poor concentration
Withdrawing from social activities
Excessive worrying
When we notice signs of stress, we should refrain from brushing them off as they can be indicators of our
mental well-being.
If we have trouble coping with stress, we can reach out to our friends or trusted adults around us.
Take breaks to do what we love
Enjoyable activities can include going for a short walk, reading a book, or even taking a nap. We can also spend time with friends and people we care about to alleviate some of our stress.
Discover more stress-busting tips here.
During a transition, we may experience many different emotions. It is important to know how we can manage these so we can successfully navigate the transition with a clear mind. However, as we may go through a wide range of them, we need to first identify the emotions troubling us before we can work towards solving them.
Here are some steps we can take to identify and manage our emotions:
Identify the emotion
- We can use the feelings tracker to identify how we are feeling.
- We can then use the emotions explorer to understand why we feel those emotions.
- We should not neglect how we feel as we may get overwhelmed and become less effective at managing our emotions.
Know why we feel
the way we do
- We can learn to accept our emotions as natural and not something to avoid.
- Many things can trigger our emotions, including events, situations, or even our own thoughts and memories.
- Try to understand what makes us feel a certain way and why as this would make it easier for us to assess how best to manage our feelings.
Find out how we can manage our emotions here.
