This Teenage Life

Our hearts are broken for the people of Ukraine. Some of us wrote poems to express our grief and let the people of Ukraine know that we stand with them.

In school, in friendships, amongst family members — it can be challenging to ask questions due to invisible social rules, fear of judgement, or a fear of being direct and making someone else uncomfortable.   In this episode of This Teenage Life we talk about asking questions in different contexts, fears that can bubble up around them, and how we push through and are learning to communicate more effectively.  

In the face of existential anxieties, it's hard to know what to do. They feel so big and overwhelming that it can be hard to come back to the physical world and ground in the present when we're pondering the meaning of life. In this episode, we're talking about the things we do to feel well-regulated in the face of existential questions — the specific actions we take to feel connected to meaning and joy. Inspired by Melissa Bernstein from Lifelines, we're talking about our "meaning and play sparks."

The experience of going through puberty is always unique and difficult, but in pandemic times, can feel even more isolating. In this week's episode of This Teenage Life, we're talking about our experiences with puberty, body image, and outsider's perspectives.

Who makes This Teenage Life? How did they reach out and get involved? How does our work affect them? In this episode of This Teenage Life, we go behind the scenes to talk about how we make the show and how it impacts us.

Small comments can really hurt, especially when they’re rooted in racism, misogyny, or other identity-based biases. In this episode, two teens discuss microaggressions, focusing, in particular, on actions and comments they’ve experienced about their hair.

Crushes can be fun, horrible, nerve-wracking, day-dreamy... they combine all the feelings and they're different for everyone. In this episode, we talk about how crushes make us feel, how we feel about them, and some cultural differences when it comes to talking about crushes.

In addition to being a medical issue, the pandemic has also led to a mental health crisis. In this episode, one member of This Teenage Life shares her personal story of isolation and depression during quarantine. No one at This Teenage Life is a mental health professional, but here are some resources in case you or someone you know is experiencing depression: Materials from the Child Mind Institute: Overview of Depression: https://childmind.org/guide/depression-in-kids-quick-guide/ Depression in Teenagers: https://childmind.org/article/what-are-the-symptoms-of-depression-in-teenagers/ Depression Treatment: https://childmind.org/article/treatment-for-depression/ In case you or someone you know is having thoughts of self-harm: Help-Line in India: India http://www.aasra.info/helpline.html Help-Line in the United States: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

At This Teenage Life, we all experience anxiety in different ways — feelings in our chest, sweat on our palms, repetitive thoughts. On this episode, we talk about our experiences of anxiety and the various strategies and coping mechanisms we've developed to manage it.

They might make us look “better,” but they don’t always make us feel better about who we are and what we look like. In this episode of This Teenage Life, we’re hearing people’s perspectives and experiences with photo filters — like the ones we use (or choose not to use) on Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok. Thanks to Raya, Sophia, Jayden, and Tori for inspiring this episode.

A lot of folks in This Teenage Life are going through post-high school changes right now, and with that, comes a lot of feelings of inadequacy. These feelings seem to always be present regardless of what we're doing, and in today's episode, we explore them and start to figure out how to reframe and move past them.

Join us as we delve into the ways books transport and transform us. This episode is extra special not only because of the topic, but because you'll hear from our new This Teenage Life chapter — listeners from an ocean away who reached out to come together and share their stories.

Here in the U.S., we're transitioning from summer to fall, from vacation to back-to-school. This Teenage Life is starting it's fourth season and the original crew members are starting new chapters in their lives now that high school is finished and new jobs and colleges await. At the same time, folks from younger groups are going through a big transition themselves: in-person high school for the first time. In this episode of This Teenage Life, we're talking through our anxieties and hopes for our next chapter as we launch our fourth season.

Our hearts break for Kabul today as the Taliban take over the city. We stand with our friends there. Shame on world leaders for this tragedy.

This episode is a narrative piece by Cloe Moreno, the artist for This Teenage Life, and centers around her relationship to body image. Through her own reflections and a conversation with her mom, she tells her story about grappling with an eating disorder— how it started for her and how she is overcoming it. Warning: This episode might be triggering for some. If that's the case, just switch to another great episode of This Teenage Life:)

Over the years, we've received a lot of emails from listeners about friendship — how to make friends, keep them, and how to processing friend breakups. In this episode of This Teenage Life, we're talking about friendship and some of the messiness that comes with being a human trying to connect with others.

With all their hip dips, pimples, stretch marks, and fat, bodies are cool and beautiful because of everything they do for us. How can we learn to love them despite societal critiques and unrealistic standards?  In this episode, we talk about specific insecurities, the comments and comparisons that have helped foster them, and the practices we've developed to love our bodies just the way they are.

In this episode, inspired and hosted by a listener-turned-contributer named Lydia, we process feelings around parents' divorces. Check out Lydia's independent work at wildflowerszine.com.

For better or for worse, how feminine or unfeminine we are can define how we’re treated in the world — and how we think about ourselves. In this episode, Olivia discusses her relationship with femininity. 

President Biden signed into law that Juneteenth is now recognized as a national holiday. This Teenage Life contributors shared their feelings about Juneteenth and its importance to them, especially in the context of Black history being recognized as US history.    Music credit: Molly Zucchet normally makes all our music but this episode sampled from Lobo Loco on Creative Commons.