This Teenage Life

In this episode, TTL participants reflect on their varied experiences throughout the pandemic, from its beginning to what things are like now. The teens discuss anxiety, social changes, and dealing with complex grief. Some of the participants featured in this episode helped create a Teen Vogue article about high schooler's experiences during the pandemic, which you can read here: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/the-class-of-2024-didnt-know-high-school-without-covid

This week's episode is about climate and eco-anxiety. The teens discuss their grief about the climate emergency and other environmental crises. They then talk about transforming their feelings into shared action. 

Thank you to UNICEF USA and Anya Kamenetz. Look out for a future episode about young climate innovators and their inspiring solutions.

Inspired by one of This Teenage Life's newest members, this episode is about one young person's experience navigating identity development and middle social dynamics while also grappling with her experience of autism.

If you are interested in sharing a story or want to request an episode — email us at team@thisteenagelife.org.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day in the U.S. and so it feels apt to revisit a topic from a previous episodes: crushes.

In this episode, we share our thoughts on having crushes (or not), what it feels like, how and with whom to talk about our crushes, and much more.c

In this episode, TTL participants explore their own insecurities and interview Gracie and Clyde Lawrence from the amazing band, Lawrence— here on Youtube + Spotify—about how music can serve as an outlet for reframing past and present insecurities. 

This episode was made in collaboration with PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs' podcast On Our Minds." 

This is an episode about two teens who have experienced being bullied and who are working to overcome it. Being bullied can take a toll on self esteem and mental health. It can feel like you're the only one going through it and it will never end.

Even though it does end, there is still more we could do to stop bullying and to support people being bullied. At TTL, we are all about destigmatizing speaking out and making sure people don't feel alone. Listen to our episode to hear our stories but in case you're experiencing bullying, here are some more resources:

•  Thank You Next: Overcoming Bullying, a previous TTL episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
• Cybersmile Help Center
• Child Mind Institute Resources
• The Trevor Project

In this episode, Rani, one of the teen contributors to This Teenage Life, shares about her relationship with poetry. She describes how it became an important outlet for creative and emotional expression. Overcoming criticisms, she has stuck with writing, and it continues to be a faithful friend. Check out Rani's work on Instagram @a_brokencorwn.

The holidays are a complicated time for many people. They bring up all kinds of feelings — nostalgia, cozyness, goals for the future, and anxieties about those left behind.

Two days before the commencement of our next cycle around the sun, we share an episode with you that we made exactly a year ago. It's reassuring to hear this and reflect on the cyclical nature of time.

We are so grateful to have you as a listener and, as always, love hearing from you. Feel free to reach out, and say hi or share your ideas for episodes at team@thisteenagelife.org. Also feel free to check out our own TTL Wrapped 2023.

Happy New Year from the This Teenage Life team and talk to you in 2024!

For many folks, January is a theoretically a time of goal setting and self-improvement aspirations. Of course, many of us want to grow and change, but do we have to do it in a particular way in a particular way? In this episode, teens from This Teenage Life discuss their fraught relationship with the idea of New Year's driven goals/resolutions and share ways that better help them become the people they want to be.

In the fast-paced, tech-driven world we live in, it can be easy to become self- centered...specifically human-centered. In this episode, we hear from the teens about animal-friends who keep them grounded and inspired. We also hear from the prolific naturalist and author Sy Montgomery (Molly's hero) and illustrator Matt Patterson, creators of Of Time and Turtles, a gorgeous book about healing, time, and learning from other creatures.

Thank you to Sy, Matt, and their turtle community! Check out Matt's beautiful drawings here!

For many of us here at This Teenage Life, how we talk to ourselves influences how we connect with others. In this episode, teens and experts share about their experiences and understandings of self talk, along with strategies for shifting thoughts that undermine us into thoughts that are more supportive.

Here are some resources to learn more about strategies for more positive self talk.

• Teen Vogue on talking to your younger self
• CMI on how to change negative thinking patterns
• CMI on helping kids who are hard on themselves

Thank you to Arizona State University's Learning Enterprise for sponsoring this episode! ASU Learning Enterprise’s Foundational Learning Health Literacy Project is empowering learners to actively manage their health and well-being through comprehensive and engaging, open access content that decreases informational gaps. Check out this link to learn more.

Shout out to Taina Coleman and Cara Macari from the Child Mind Insitute for their contributions to this episode!

From tests, to essays, to the constant pressure to be productive...many teens at This Teenage Life are expressing how academic stress is overpowering their love of learning. 

How can teachers and students come together to change this — to foster wonder, joy, and help heal our relationships with learning. In this episode we explore all kinds of strategies including totally shifting the way we teach and learn math.

This Teenage Life is sponsored by the XQ Institute, the leading organization dedicated to rethinking the U.S. high school experience so that every student graduates ready to succeed in college, career, and life. If you’re a student who wishes to drive change in your high school community, check out XQ’s Youth Voice toolkit. It’s full of resources to develop, advocate, and execute a plan to improve your high school. Go to YouthVoice.xqsuperschool.org to learn more. Follow XQ America on TikTok and on Instagram to share your experience as a student and change what learning looks like.

Resources from the Episode:

Check out Sarah Strong's book Dear Math: Why Kids Hate Math and What Teachers Can Do About It

Here we’re responding to listener emails requesting an episode on how to navigate being queer while also living in religious communities where it’s stigmatized to be LGBTQ+. To explore this tension, we interview LGBTQ+ activist, Chaim Levin, who speaks about his experience being gay, coming out, and ultimately closing the conversion therapy center used amongst his religious community.

This episode was made via a conversation between teens and Chaim, but teen voices have been re-recorded with adult ones to preserve their anonymity. 

Many folks who work on TTL identify publically as LGBTQ+ and we’ve made previous episodes on the topic including Coming Out Story and Queerness. If you're looking for more resources, check out The Trevor Project's Resource Center.

If you have any requests for episode topics or just want to say hi, feel free to reach out to us at team@thisteenagelife.org. Below are some resources for 

Whether it be drifting apart from old friends, having a friend move to a new place or school, or severing ties with toxic friends, losing touch with people can be difficult and painful. In this episode, we're talking about the many different kinds of friend "breakups," as TTL participants share their experiences and advice. 

When teenagers feel seen and heard as whole people by teachers, it makes a huge difference in their experience at school. In this episode, we hear from teens and educators from across the U.S. about how teachers can foster strong connections with teens and build the trust needed for authentic check ins.

This Teenage Life is sponsored by the XQ Institute, the leading organization dedicated to rethinking the U.S. high school experience so that every student graduates ready to succeed in college, career, and life. If you’re a student who wishes to drive change in your high school community, check out XQ’s Youth Voice toolkit. It’s full of resources to develop, advocate, and execute a plan to improve your high school. Go to YouthVoice.xqsuperschool.org to learn more. Follow XQ America on TikTok and on Instagram to share your experience as a student and change what learning looks like. 

The world is heavy right now. The wars unfolding are tragic and many of us feel devastated and helpless.

In this moment, what are some small things we can do to cultivate compassion and kindness in ourselves? How can we be the peace we want to be with the people and animals around us? In this episode, teens share how they practice compassion and reach out to connect with others to feel less alone and overwhelmed in the world.

Here is the organization, the Yellow Tulip Project, described by its Outreach Director, Danielle Whyte, towards the end of this episode.

Our hearts are broken for those affected by the conflict and violence going on in the Middle East right now.

We call to TTL community members to be the peace and humanity the world desparately needs.

This summer, Molly, the adult who works on This Teenage Life, visited the Seeds of Peace Camp, which brings together youth from regions of conflict including teens from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, India, Pakistan, and the U.S. She spoke with campers from the Middle East and South Asia who had taken the leap to meet folks "the other side." Many of them defied the opinions of their political leaders and communities,  traveling thousands of miles to speak with teenagers on the opposite side of their national conflict.

In this episode, teens from Seeds of Peace shared their experience doing what they think is right in order to hear from their neighbors and nominal enemies. Then teens from TTL share their own experiences of connecting with folks from another side in their daily lives.

It's been a while since our last episode on the topic, so after many requests, we're making another episode on periods. In this one, teens share stories and reflections on getting their periods for the first time, navigating the logistics and their feelings about periods, and working to destigmatize menstruation.

At the end of the episode, we speak with the inspiring Jordana Kier, co-founder of LOLA, a comapany that makes great mensturation products for people who get their periods. 

To hear our first episode on periods, check it out here on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.